Attached
by Edward the VIII
Summary: Sasuke's first attempt at a new space-time ninjutsu backfires, dumping three amnesiac women in his lap. He'd pass them along for Naruto to handle - except they've already imprinted on him like a trio of little ducklings. "How did my life come to this?"
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:** _ **Sasuke's first attempt at a new space-time ninjutsu backfires, dumping three amnesiac women in his lap. He'd pass them along for Naruto to handle - except they've already imprinted on him like a trio of little ducklings. "How did my life come to this?"**_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own any of the characters in it. I do not own DxD, nor do I own any of the characters in it. The plot (however thin) of this story is mine, and I will not tolerate anyone copying my personal material.**

* * *

 **Well, this is a new step for me-let's hope it's something that will interest you guys.**

 **Now, a brief Q/A. These are not questions that people have asked me, but they are questions I will assume people will ask.**

 _ **Why is Sasuke the male protagonist and not Naruto?**_ **: The answer to that is simple: I prefer Sasuke as a character, and I think that stories with him are much more interesting-and more importantly** _ **fresh**_ **compared to the same Naruto-centric fics that are released every day.**

 _ **Why did you select -so and so- to be a part of the main pairing? :**_ **Rias I selected because she's probably the girl that catches my eye the most in DxD. Irina I selected because I like her design. Xenovia I selected because a friend of mine likes her, and I think she's pretty cool too.**

 _ **Why don't you kill yourself for writing Sasuke-centric stuff, faggot?**_ **: Because I won't be able to torture Naru-wankers with my Sasuke-centric stuff. To any Naru-wankers who can actually tolerate Sasuke stuff, you are excluded from that statement… mostly.**

 _ **How often will you update this? :**_ **It depends. More reviews would help, ;). No, seriously, it depends-I have a lot of stories to focus on, but I'll try and update this at least every month or so. Maybe more often, I don't know.**

 **Whew, now that's over with, we can finally get to the story proper.**

 **Enjoy! And don't forget to leave a review.**

* * *

It was growing on noon, and Sasuke knew his energy for the day had already dwindled. Naruto had yanked him out of his apartment at the crack of dawn, to bombard him with a multitude of questions while subtly getting Sasuke to pay for his breakfast at Ichiraku's.

"Don't you have a girlfriend to do this for you?" Sasuke grumbled, as he forked over a wad of bills to the grey haired man behind the counter.

Naruto grinned, and at least a dozen women in the street behind them swayed on their feet and practically fainted. Which was strange, because they couldn't even see his grin-maybe it was some kind of subconscious girl thing Sasuke had never heard of. It seemed a tad stronger than when he had been a kid, that was for sure.

"Hinata's cooking is great and all, but I'll take a breakfast at Ichiraku's anyday." Naruto said. He continued to grin until a flicker of worry flashed over his face. "Don't tell Hinata I said that, alright?"

Sasuke merely shook his head, and turned back to the counter. He tucked into his bowl; if he was paying for it, he might as well eat it, right?

Naruto had spent most of the time asking him the same irritating questions. 'How are you doing?' 'Everything alright with the girls?' 'You better not be plotting some secret takeover of the village!' All the while, Sasuke would hum and nod, and secretly plot to takeover the village just so he could outlaw ramen and watch Naruto wilt in despair.

It was an hour later that Sasuke was finally freed from the shackles of what he ominously deemed the ' _idiot's curse_ ', aka the strange ability Naruto possessed to get what he wanted from people-in this case him.

His apartment beckoned him. He gave his neighbor the stink eye as he walked up to his door, because he _knew_ that she had been the one to leave that rotten egg in his mailbox the other day, and he still wasn't sure how he was going to pay her back yet.

Sasuke yawned, and silently resolved to take a power nap. Which was what he typically did after talking with Naruto anyways-for obvious reasons, because that idiot was just too exhausting to deal with on a daily basis. He didn't know how Hinata managed.

He slipped his key out of his pocket, twisted it into his lock, opened the door and stepped into the apartment.

Rias Gremory smiled at him.

Or, to be more accurate, a topless Rias Gremory. He'd seen her breasts bare before-practically everyone who knew her had-but to have them thrown on him so suddenly was a little jarring.

"Hello, Sasuke-san." she simpered.

To get an idea of just how impact this sight was, a description of Rias is needed. She's tall, though still a little shorter than Sasuke. Her hair red, crimson, the kind of shade that reminded Sasuke of blood or the _sharingan_. And her figure, well, to put it simply this woman was curvy.

Actually, curvy doesn't really begin to describe it-if there was a way to describe what she looked like, Sasuke would have to use the word angelic, and that was saying something for him. The way she flaunted it, you'd think Rias would be a supermodel; or a pornstar, though Sasuke was well aware of the fact that she was a virgin, for reasons that he dared not dwell on for fear of pitching a tent then and there.

To put it simply, half the men in Konoha would have turned red as her hair and likely fainted at the sight of her topless. The other half probably would have stared at her in shock for a dozen minutes. Sasuke merely blinked, and closed the door behind him.

He didn't want anyone to peep inside and catch a view of _that_. Who knows what idea they might get.

"Where's your shirt?" Sasuke asked.

Rias continued to smile at him, sweet and innocent (for her), completely unabashed at the fact of her obvious nudity.

"I took it off." Rias said.

The corners of his lips curled down. "And what about your bra?" he chose to ask, though the answer to that was obvious.

"I took that off, too." she said, her cheeks still stretched in that same smile.

Sasuke rubbed his nose. "Why did you do that?" he asked.

"It got hot in here." Rias said. "So I took off my shirt and my bra to cool off." She gave a little flourish, and her breasts _jiggled_ in a way that made Sasuke feel uncomfortable. "Does that answer your inquiry?"

"I showed you how to use the thermostat in this place. I don't care if it's 'archaic' or however you put it…!" Sasuke rubbed his forehead, and grit his teeth. "I don't like coming home and being hit with _that_ , you know?"

Rias frowned. "I was under the impression that men liked being faced with a shirtless woman." she said.

"Well, I-" He paused. "I don't dislike it, I just-"

Thankfully, another occupant of the apartment came to save him from stumbling and bumbling over his words-something which he hadn't done since the last time Sakura had recommended him for a prostate exam. That was a joke by the way; the actual last time he'd gotten like that had been after he had learned the truth about Itachi.

Laugh at that.

Anyway, a loud _crash_ echoed through the living room, and a loud feminine screech. "Dang it!" a voice cursed. "Again?!"

Sasuke's frown grew ever more pronounced. "Put a shirt on," he told Rias, before he stepped past her and down the hallway. A rather familiar sight met him in the narrow corridor-a chestnut haired girl sat on her knees, broken pieces of glass littering the floor in front of her. A voluptuous, blue haired girl stood beside her. "What did you do, Irina?"

Irina Shidou stared up at him, and he couldn't help but scowl at this overly _adorable_ look on her face. Damn, he was getting soft.

"I didn't mean to, I swear!" she said. "It just got in the way and…"

"If you're wondering what she did," a curt voice cut in. "Irina decided to go ahead and break another one of your things with her clumsiness. Again."

Irina glared at the blue haired girl. "Xenovia! Don't rat me out like that!"

Xenovia chuckled, and fell silent as Sasuke directed his attention back to Irina. "Was it on purpose?"

"N-no!" Irina said. "Of course not."

Sasuke sighed.

To make it obvious why Sasuke felt bad for her, the appearance she gave him was bordering on pathetic. Irina was small, she was short, and he stood a two-thirds of a foot taller than her even when she stood on her tiptoes. To put her down on her knees, it made her look like a child; Sasuke was many things, but even he couldn't get angry at such a flimsy looking woman. Well, at least not in his current state of mind-Irina was just lucky she hadn't met him three years ago.

The fact that she was so cute made it harder. Sasuke was not exactly a connoisseur of women-many people had taken his adamant rejection of fangirls to be a sign that he was 'asexual' or 'gay' for whatever reason-but even he could tell when a woman was attractive and when she wasn't.

And with those big violet eyes, that long wavy chestnut hair, those lovely and soft features, Irina likely would have made Uchiha Madara melt with her 'puppy dog' look.

Which she shot him now, in full force, well aware of the fact that Sasuke had not fallen for it the last time she had given him it. Because he was not Uchiha Madara, he was Uchiha Sasu

"You know, I never thought about this before," Xenovia murmured. She bent down, picked up a shard of glass and examined it. "But you really do not look the type to have a vase in your house, Sasuke."

The thing she had broken (this time) had been a vase, an ugly one at that. One that Naruto and Sakura had given him as a 'housewarming' gift, which essentially meant that he couldn't throw it away without hearing them bitch for weeks on end about how little he appreciated them.

Actually, to be honest, he had hoped something like this would happen. Irina's clumsiness had become evident rather quickly, and Sasuke had decided to take the risk and put the vase in a 'risky' spot, in the hopes of her breaking it.

He hadn't planned on getting mad at her at all. Of course, she didn't know that.

"It was a gift from a friend." he said to Xenovia. "Irina, just pick up the pieces, and make sure it all gets thrown away. Alright?"

"Y-you're not mad?" she asked, and blinked those big eyes of hers up at him. "You were mad last time…"

"Last time you broke a plate that had been in my clan for generations." Sasuke deadpanned. "This time, you broke a vase that I could care less about. Just clean it up, and I won't mention it again."

"Okay…" Irina murmured. She stared up at him for a long moment-before a flush appeared on her cheeks, perhaps because she realized how kind of creepy it was to stare at someone so intently. She began to clean the glass up, but the blush persisted.

"Help her, Xenovia. Knowing Irina, she'd probably cut herself and get blood all over my apartment unsupervised…" Sasuke said.

Xenovia shrugged, and knelt down to aid her friend in cleaning up.

Now, Xenovia was an interesting character, one of the few women that had intrigued Sasuke from the moment he'd met her. She was cool, distant, and yet there was that undertone of affection and warmth around her friends. Not to mention her looks-like Rias, and unlike Irina, Xenovia was absolutely stacked when it came to the genetic lottery. Sasuke would never admit this fact to any of them, but if there was one thing he wished, is was that Xenovia and Irina were just as open about their bodies as Rias was.

Even he, the great 'ice king' as some dubbed him, would probably take a nosedive at the sight of all three of them-

Fuck, he was getting off track.

Sasuke walked away from the two girls, reassured in the fact that the ugly vase had finally been vanquished from his premises.

"Hello, Sasuke-san." Rias greeted him once more.

Of course, she was still topless-actually, it looked as if the loose sweatpants (were those his?) that she wore had slid down her slim hips a little when he had been gone.

"Put on a shirt for fuck's sake!" Sasuke snapped, his voice carrying a bite with it that would have made an ordinary woman wince.

Rias was not an ordinary woman. "But I like not having one on!" Rias whined, and she looked like a kid who was being accosted by their least favorite Disney character. "It's so much more comfortable this way, Sasuke-san…!"

"Oh for the love of…"

Sasuke rubbed his forehead.

He ran a hand through his hair.

He tried not to dwell on the fact that he was actually asking a woman to put her clothes back on.

He also tried not to think about the fact that it would be _so_ easy to get her to take the rest off…

Sasuke took a deep breath.

You know, some backtracking would probably be a good idea here.

After all, how on any earth, in any dimension, in any universe, did _Uchiha fucking Sasuke_ end up sharing an apartment with three beautiful, busty, and more importantly gullible women?

Well, the answer to that is-

* * *

It was a bright summer's day. The sun was high in the sky, the warmth in the air was just that perfect mix of welcoming and refreshing, and more importantly, it was a very very _boring_ day. Boring was good to Sasuke. Boring meant that he didn't have any killer Akatsuki members on his tail, boring meant that he wasn't going to receive a dozen dirty looks for every thirteen people that walked past him, boring meant that he could just _walk_ and not have to worry about anything else.

So he walked.

And walked.

For over two years, all he'd done was walk.

The initial plan had been to 'atone for his sins' or something of that sort; for him to go from village to village, doing good deeds and changing the perception of both himself and the Uchiha among the rural communities of the Land of Fire and beyond.

That was the plan.

But, as someone who had never existed in this world stated-" _I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."_ Unfortunately for Sasuke, the extent of his planning had been to 'walk east'.

Three months of traveling had brought him to a big blue ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see. Ships never dared to journey across it, and any shinobi who had attempted it failed-Sasuke wasn't keen on repeating their attempts, and he had no reason to go there anyway. So he turned, and instead walked to the northwest.

Lush fields, endless seas of forest and woods, even a cow or two that grazed in an open clearing. A gently smoking crater that was still being filled in after the Juubi's rage, and numerous villages that shut him out for fear of shinobi rather than any fear of him in particular.

It was a pleasant time, perhaps the first pleasant time Sasuke had experienced since the days of Team Seven in his youth.

One year passed, and Sasuke heard nothing but murmurs from Konoha. Which was strange-when you had someone like Naruto around in such a prominent position, Sasuke figured that there would be a crisis every other month.

Two years. Sasuke decided to stick his nose back into Konoha, only to find that the moon was falling and that Naruto was on some stupid quest to rescue a princess or something like that. Naturally, he showed up, had his moment of badassery, and then proceeded to leave without so much as a 'hello'. Because he was Uchiha Sasuke, and that was what he did.

One might think that over seven hundred days of travel might get a little dull; and well, Sasuke would be a liar to claim that it hadn't. He had done a lot of good though-he'd helped to repair villages, mend famine, and more importantly he had saved a lot of lives on his journey.

As was aforementioned, _that_ day in particular had been a boring one thus far. He had broken up camp at dawn, and begun his journey to the south because he'd already hit the great wall of mountains that prevented him from progressing any further to the north-west.

He paused around midday, to eat a simple lunch and to-well, and to train. He was still vigilant about that sort of stuff after all, and there was no need to allow his skills to rust if the next great threat was around the corner. Which it very well may be.

Sasuke decided to work with his _Rinnegan_ that day. A decision that would forever impact the rest of his life, though of course he wasn't aware of that at the time.

He went through the normal routine: he fiddled with _Amenotejikara_ , the various paths, and even tried working on that 'other' ability; one that he had recently discovered, where he could sort of go into other dimensions. Sort of. He'd never been able to get into one as of then, but he had seen into the portals and witnessed some pretty interesting things. If only he could figure out the exact process-then, he could open a portal whenever he wanted to.

You might already know what's going to happen, because why else would this day be so important as to transcribe?

On that day, Sasuke figured out how to open a portal for longer than five seconds.

His eyes widened, and his feet shook as the chakra costs of the jutsu took its toll on his body. The vortex was big, and purple, it rippled in the air and made it seem like he was being sucked inside despite the fact that he hadn't moved an inch since he had opened it.

"Fu- fuck." he hissed. The thing was powerful, and of course it was-this was a jutsu that Kaguya her-fucking-self had devised. He was a mere man, despite all of his dojutsu and techniques, and a mere man had only the faintest hope of keeping something like interdimensional travel in checked.

The portal seemed to hiss, like if you dropped water onto a fire, but not enough to extinguish it. Something red poked out of it, and Sasuke recoiled.

Then, the portal gave way to what seemed to be a mass of blue, red, chestnut and white. Sasuke blinked twice, to find that it was three girls that had tumbled out of the portal in a tangle of limbs-each of them clad in the same schoolgirl uniform, complete with short skirt and tight shirts.

His concentration snapped, and the portal closed.

Sasuke breathed hard and fast, he tumbled forward until the very tips of the redhead's hair brushed against his feet. "What the hell?" he cursed. "Where- how did… who the hell are you people?"

Groggy and disoriented only began to describe what the three girls felt. Their heads were loopy, their vision going from upside down to rightside up on the flip of a dime, and it was all they could do to not hurl on the ground right then and there.

Slowly, Rias, Xenovia and Irina rose to their feet.

They stared at Sasuke, and he stared right back.

"... hello?" Irina said.

Sasuke blinked.

"Is he mute or something?" Xenovia mumbled.

Sasuke blinked.

"Do tell us where we are, human." Rias said. "It's a shame if we're trespassing on your land, but we have places to be that are not in the middle of the woods."

A vein twitched on his forehead. "What kind of moron calls another person a 'human'?" he retorted.

Rias scoffed. "I assure you, I am anything but a moron! I am-" She paused for a moment, but it seemed Sasuke was more pressing than whatever had worried her, for she set her sights back on him. "Tell us where we are, human."

"We don't have time to play games." Xenovia growled. "If you think that you can kidnap us or something of that sort, you are sorely mistaken."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Kidnap you?" he said.

Irina blanched. "Guys, I think you're-"

"Hush," Rias and Xenovia said together.

He sighed. "I have no idea what you think I've done to you." Sasuke said. "I'll answer your question-currently, we are nowhere. The nearest town is twenty kilometers that way; but, if you keep making threats you're not going anywhere." His voice was threatening, because seriously, you would be an idiot to trust three people who just randomly popped out of a portal.

Xenovia cracked her knuckles. "You answered wrong, human." she said.

"Wait, don't-" Irina cried, but it was too late.

Xenovia was not rash by any means, but she was certainly overconfident. Considering she thought she was up against little more than an ordinary human, it was perfectly understandable that she thought she could win.

She thought wrong, however.

A purple skeletal arm appeared from thin air, and flicked her away as Sasuke might flick a dust mite off of his shoulder.

Xenovia tumbled head over heels for a good half a dozen meters, though she did manage to find her way back onto her feet.

The _Susanoo_ arm had disappeared as quickly as it had materialized.

Rias stared at him, shell shocked.

"I don't think…" she murmured. "I don't think we have our powers here."

"Powers?" Sasuke questioned.

"Our-" Suddenly, she paused. "Wait. What powers _are_ we supposed to have?"

The three girls exchanged a glance while Sasuke stared at them with a frown.

"I'm Xenovia Quarta." Xenovia said.

"I'm Rias Gremory." Rias said.

"I'm Irina Shidou." Irina said.

A pause.

"Then why can't I remember anything else?" they said in unison.

"Remember what?" Sasuke asked.

Xenovia glared at him. Rias gave him a careful, calculating look before she chose to answer. "Where we came from." Rias said. "I remember vague things, I think. That I'm a- a devil of sorts. I believe I had a brother and a lover? No, not a lover, more of a boyfriend I think, or at least a love interest."

"I think we were friends." Irina said to Xenovia. "Good friends."

Xenovia bit her lip, and said nothing. She chose to direct her gaze at the ground.

"I apologize for my earlier brashness." Rias said, and she bowed to Sasuke. "I did not realize that you were a man of power, and that is entirely my fault."

Sasuke frowned. "It's going to take more than an apology to make up for attempting to attack me." he said.

Rias, to his surprise, merely smiled at him. "I understand that. May I know your name?"

He debated it for a moment, but in the end, there really was no reason to conceal his identity from them. "I am Sasuke." he said. "Uchiha Sasuke."

If there was one thing that confirmed the fact that they were foreigners, it was their lack of reaction to the clan name 'Uchiha'. Even before two of them had come around and nearly destroyed the entire world-Sasuke liked to think that he had just been trying to destroy _Konoha_ , not the world-the name struck fear into people's hearts. These girls didn't even bat an eye, to them his last name might as well have been something insignificant like Yamada. Or Uzumaki. That last one was a joke by the way.

Not that Sasuke was irked by that fact. Not that he was irked by the fact that the fearsome reputation he had cultivated over the years by being an emotionless d-bag and all around a badass (and at times a whiny teenager) was all for naught when it came to these three women from another world. No, it did not irk him at all, no siree.

Okay, maybe it was time to shelve his ego for a little bit-cue shocked screams. Right about now, he had three girls with little to no memories, who were from a different world, and who couldn't help but look at him like he was some sort of divine figure.

Sasuke sighed, and clasped his fingers together in a seal. "Let me see if I can reopen the portal that brought you three here." Sasuke said. "I'm sure I can send you back to your world or whatever the hell you call it…"

He let out a strained gasp, and his _Rinnegan_ pulsed. His eye threatened to close, but he forced it back open, and slowly but surely the vortex reemerged.

"Let's be careful." Rias said. "I'm going to stick my head through and see what's on the other side." She did exactly that-Irina and Xenovia gripped the back of her shirt to ensure she wasn't sucked through or anything like that. Rias came back through a moment later. "I saw mages or wizards or something like that." she said. "I don't think that ours home."

Sasuke panted. "Alright…" he said. The vortex closed-a moment later, it reopened. Sweat rolled down his cheeks, and his knees shook. "Let's try it again."

She stuck her head back through.

Then, she came back again.

"I don't think there's any dinosaurs where we're from either." Rias said solemnly. "Can… can you open it again?"

Sasuke let out a gasp at that moment, and the vortex closed. He fell onto one knee, his _rinnegan_ eye forcing itself shut.

"No." he wheezed, as he felt like someone had jammed a foot into his gut. "I can't. It'll be a few weeks at least, considering how much I overused my _rinnegan_ , before I can do anything like that again."

Irina walked over to him, and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder; Sasuke recoiled a little. "Are you alright?" she asked, and blinked those big eyes of hers at him. Sasuke's lips curled down.

He calmly pushed her hand away. "I'm fine," Sasuke said, as he eased himself back to his feet, his footing still a little shaky. "It's just that the jutsu I used to open those portals takes a lot of chakra."

"Chakra?" Xenovia questioned.

Sasuke paused. "Sort of like my stamina. It's what I put into my techniques, and I have a finite amount that regenerates overtime."

"Ah."

Rias rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "A few weeks." she said. "I suppose that settles it, then."

"Settles what?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, we'll obviously have to accompany you until you can use that 'jutsu' once again." Rias said, and she smiled at him in a way that made his gut clench-not that he paid it any mind.

"... no." he said.

"Why not?" Xenovia questioned.

"I intended to take this journey on my own, not to drag three girls behind me when I do it." Sasuke said. "Even if it's only for a few weeks."

Rias frowned. "Surely it can't be that bad, Sasuke-san-you won't even notice us when we're traveling with you. I promise."

Sasuke was pretty sure that the exact opposite was true when it concerned women as eccentric as them.

He rubbed his nose.

Now, he did face a slight dilemma. A voice that sounded strangely like Itachi's whispered in his ear- _'You can't leave three girls out in the wilderness all alone with no memories, otouto.'_ \- and to be honest, that voice was probably right. Naruto would throw a hissy fit if he knew that Sasuke had abandoned three women-let alone three beautiful women at that.

"... fuck…" Sasuke groaned.

Irina blinked. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing." Sasuke said. "I know a place where the three of you can go; in all likelihood, you should be able to stay there for a few weeks until I come back with my _rinnegan_ rejuvenated. "

"Is this place trustworthy?" Rias asked.

He paused. "It has people that would trust someone like me." Sasuke said cryptically. "If they can trust me, they can trust you-that's all you need to know."

The three girls frowned at him for a moment.

Rias, ever the leader, took charge. "Lead the way then, Sasuke-san." she said. "I suppose we have nowhere else to go in the meantime."

"What's the place called?" irina said.

"Konohagakure." Sasuke replied.

"The Village Hidden in the-Trees?" Rias said.

"Leaves," Sasuke murmured. The corner of his lip quirked upward. "Nice try, though."

"... huh." Rias murmured. "I could have sworn my Japanese was perfect."

"Konohagakure, hmm?" Xenovia said. "That's an interesting name, though I doubt somewhere that would want to remain 'hidden' would allow three outsiders to enter and stay for a few weeks."

Sasuke chuckled. "The name is misleading."

"How so?" Rias asked.

"You'll see when we get there." He turned, and his cloak swished around him. "Come then, I suppose-it's only noon, and we have plenty of ground to cover before we reach Konoha."

He began to walk.

Xenovia, Rias, and Irina all exchanged glances with each other. Irina was the first to walk after him, Rias the second, and Xenovia the last. They caught up with him quickly.

"How long will this take?" Irina asked. "I mean, until we get there."

"A week or two." Sasuke replied. "Luckily enough, there was a village a few dozen kilometers back that's a hub-most travelers coming from the Land of Sand pass through it to get to Konoha. All we need to do is head then, then we can follow a side path and head straight to the village."

"Sounds good." Rias said.

The four of them lapsed into silence after that, the path filled with the sound of dirt crunching beneath their feet.

Sasuke was still trying to compartmentalize what had happened in his mind.

' _So, three mysterious girls appeared out of a portal that I made-and now, I'm the only one who can send them back to their original world.'_ Sasuke thought to himself. _'I'd never thought I would end up in a situation like this. It shouldn't be too much of a hassle though, right?'_

History books would later record that as the 'understatement of the century'.

If Sasuke had known that meeting those three girls would change his life forevermore, he likely would have left them right there in that clearing; but he didn't know that, and now, his life was never going to be the same.

* * *

 **And that's a wrap for this chapter.**

 **If you enjoyed it, do not forget to leave a review-reviews are awesome, reviews are an aspiring author's bread and wine, the thing they need to crawl out of bed in the morning and make more mediocre fics for you guys. So do it! It'll take thirty seconds at most, and you don't even need an account to do it, really!**

 **Thanks for reading, and as always, have an awesome day.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, I'd hoped to get this chapter out before Feburary but a couple of things sprung up that prevented me from doing so; still, three days into the month ain't bad. No need for a lengthy A/N here like last time; this chapter continues a little bit after the first one. I hope you guys enjoy, and make sure you leave a review if you like it. Don't forget to favorite and follow as well, because well, why not? Thank you for reading this, and enjoy reading the chapter!**

* * *

For the past two to three years, Sasuke had lived a life of routine-a simple one. He woke up, he ate the food he had scavenged or bought from a farmer, then started to walk. He would walk for dawn to dusk, his pace steady, his head bowed and his mind far away.

On occasion, he would find a town. There he would stay for a day, to rest in an inn and sleep in a bed, to take a hot shower and enjoy food that had been cooked and prepared by a professional. But again, that was only on occasion and most of the time he spent his nights beneath the starry sky.

He wasn't sure how to amend his routine to take account of the three girls-Sasuke could figure that they wouldn't want to camp out in the wilderness, but he also figured that taking them into a town might be a bad idea; they weren't exactly 'normal' people after all. Not to mention the financial burden it might cause on him-what if they suggested on four separate rooms, what if they ordered countless room service that he would be forced to pay for? He had money on hand, but it wasn't enough to support more than a week or two of a luxurious life style like that.

This was one of the issues that he found himself deliberating on that first day. The others being the fact that he did not have the food and water to sustain a party of four for more than a day or so, and that he would have to drag them into a town eventually, whether he wanted to or not.

Imagine dragging a party like the one he had behind him into a conservative, rural town of the Land of Fire.

Sasuke sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

For the first few hours, they progressed rather well; it was consistent progress, if not as fast as he usually went, and at the very least that was a sign that this would be over far before he had predicted. Before long, however-

"Can we take a break?" Irina asked, and she came to a stop. "My feet are killing me!"

Sasuke stopped, turning toward her. He glanced up at the sky for a moment, then back down at her. "We've still got a while before dusk," he said, "and I don't think the other are…"

"I could go for a break," Xenovia said, though she looked as if she could run a marathon in that moment.

"What's the harm in it, Sasuke-kun?" Rias asked. "Just allow us a few moments to rest and recuperate, and then we may proceed."

Sensing that he was outvoted, Sasuke relented. "Fine," he said, "but don't take too long-you have ten minutes at the most."

While the three girls kicked off their shoes and massaged their sore soles, Sasuke took a look at their precarious supplies of water and food. He'd forgotten that he had managed to find a rabbit the other day, and since he'd taken a day or two to eat that it had left his food situation better than he expected. The water wasn't looking too kindly though, and he made a mental note to stop by a river and refill the canteens.

Speaking of which...

"May I have some water?" Xenovia asked, as she came to a stop beside him.

Sasuke reached into his bag, withdrew a canteen, and held it out for her. She took it without comment, unscrewed the cap, and take a few gulps of the liquid before she rescrewed the cap on and handed it back.

He stowed the canteen back into the bag, and slung it once against behind his back.

Briefly, he considered taking off his cloak-it was rather hot, and it probably would be more comfortable to have it off; then he realized the implications these weird girls might get from him taking off any degree of clothes in front of them. And if that seemed a little far fetched, well, Sasuke had seen girls swoon over him pulling off a pair of gloves in the winter; this by comparison was lenient on them and his opinion of them, at least in his view.

Rias and Irina exchanged a few brief words. "How are you…?" Irina asked.

"Fine," Rias said, "all things considering at least."

"I see." Irina coughed into her hand. "I just wanted to check up on you, and, you know, stuff like that."

"Well, as I said, I'm fine," Rias said. "How about yourself?"

"Oh, I'm great!" Irina said. "What could be more lovely than this?" She gestured to their surroundings, endless forest, hours and hours and days and days of walking ahead of them. If Irina wasn't Irina, it likely would have been sarcastic on her part. "At least we ran into decent company," she said, and cast a glance at Sasuke which caused him to look away.

"I'm sure we could have done a lot worse in that department," Rias said, "Who knows what type of scoundrel we may have run into?"

Xenovia scoffed, and folded her arms across her bosom. The scuffs on her arm had not yet gone away, Sasuke noticed, from when she had been thrown to the ground by the arm of his Susanoo. Not that he regretted doing that to her-she had been, as far as he knew, an active enemy combatant at the time-but, he did figure that he shouldn't have been so callous about the whole thing. He of all people should have known how much a blow to one's pride could affect a person.

Sasuke pursed his lips together. "Alright then," he said. "Time to go; the next break we'll take is when the sun goes down."

"Okay," Rias said, while Irina and Xenovia simply nodded. They slipped back into those flimsy little shoes, brushing their hair and straightening their skirts. Then, congregating into a line behind him, the four of them set off once more.

It was a typical day for Sasuke, though he quickly found out that the three women that made up his party were not cut out for the kind of lifestyle they lived. If he had some foresight, he would have edged around the hilly terrain they were entering-but he hadn't thought about them, and thus by the time they finally stopped for the day, the three of them were beat. Flushed and sweaty faces, grimy hair, clothes torn in places from where they had gotten snagged on branches, shoes coated in mud.

Sasuke, as usual, looked flawless compared to them.

To their credit, not a single complaint-well, at least a direct one to Sasuke-had passed their lips; though, Sasuke knew that was more a testament to their wariness around him (his show of power with the Susanoo still present in their minds) then anything else.

The sun had just slipped beneath the horizon, and that brilliant mixture of pink and orange was slowly ebbing away to a murky black. He could already see a few stars in the sky, not to mention the crescent moon which loomed above them, larger than usual.

"Let's stop for today," he said. "No need to push ourselves."

"Yeah." Irina panted. "No need to push… ourselves." She slumped against a tree, and slid to the forest floor, legs spread. He looked away from the sight of her skirt riding up slightly, and scratched his chin.

"One of us will need to keep watch," Sasuke said. "I suppose I'll-"

"I can do it," Rias chirped up. "No need to worry; you're doing the kindness of leading us through this world, so the three of us can at least allow you a good night's rest. We can alternate through the night so that we all will at least get a little sleep."

Sasuke pursed his lips together, but he sensed that there was no compromise in this. "Alright," he said.

"Do you have any sleeping bags?" Xenovia questioned.

"No."

She blinked. "Why not?"

"I've never had anyone along with me," Sasuke replied. "And I use my cloak as cover when need be; I do have a tent that you three should be able to fit into, especially if only two of you will be in it at a time."

He took out the storage scroll that held the tent, and summoned it-the three girls stared at in awe. However, when he went to begin the process of setting it up, a calm hand on his wrist stopped him. He jerked his hand away.

"We can set it up ourselves," Irina said, face still flushed though she seemed to have recovered a tad bit from her exertion.

"... alright." Sasuke said.

The tent was erected in fifteen minutes flat; and they did a fine job about it, though Sasuke couldn't be sure since he didn't use it much. It was mostly something he put up when he needed protection from the elements, but typically he had some foresight and could seek shelter in a town before anything worse than a mild thunderstorm hit.

"Can we eat something?" Rias asked, as she turned to Sasuke.

"Sure."

He broke out what meagre rations he had-a few crackers, a strip or two of salted beef and an apple that he cut into fourths. Rias bit her lip, Irina smiled kindly, and Xenovia gave it a sort of repugnant look. None of them said anything though, and they ate it without comment.

"I'll be sleeping out here," Sasuke said. "Take three hour shifts, and don't let your guard down; we have no idea what kind of people could prowl around these areas."

"Alright," Rias said softly.

Xenovia and Irina slipped into the tent. Rias managed to scale up to a lower branch of a tree, and took up her post there. Sasuke spread his cloak out across the grass, and laid his head down on his rucksack.

Rias began to hum beneath her breath. It was a sweet song-Sasuke hated sweet anything, yet for some reason he couldn't bring himself to hate her humming. Her voice felt as if it was caressing his ears, and it wasn't long before he found himself drifting to sleep..

* * *

Judging by the warm glow and the light present just beyond his eyelids, it was dawn-perhaps even morning. Which was just a little strange, considering he typically awoke far before the sun even threatened to crest the horizon.

Sasuke rolled over onto his back, and opened his eyes. He caught a glimpse of blue-not sky blue, but a more colorful shade; it took him a moment to realize that it was Xenovia, high above him, who had obviously taken up the last guard shift before dawn. She looked down at him, and gave him a stiff nod of acknowledgement.

He returned it, and refrained from the urge to yawn. It took a moment for him to get the blood flowing again-to sleep on something as flimsy as his cloak could do that to you-but once he did, it was with ease that he sat up.

Sasuke grasped his rucksack, unzipped it, and took inventory of his things. He had done the same at least half a dozen times in the last two days, but he was beyond orderly, and he wanted to make sure everything was in place. It wasn't OCD, but if anything came close then it was that.

There was another unzipping sound though-the sound of the tent being opened up. Evidently, he had awoken close to the time that the other two not on guard were awaking.

He didn't look at the tent for a moment as he rummaged through his belongings. Once he was done with that, though, he tilted his head to the right and glanced at the tent.

To look straight at a nude Rias, who was stretching in a way that was undeniably promiscuous-if unintentional.

His mouth went dry.

He'd seen a lot of breasts in his lifetime; hell, he was flashed at least once a week back in Konoha by some rabid fangirl who thought they could win his love that way.

But he had never seen ones like these. Huge, perfectly rounded, perfectly proportioned, plump and almost fluffy, topped with rosy nipples and looking so delicious that he actually had to refrain from licking his lips. His gaze drifted lower… lower… lower… until he saw the rest of her. Her crimson hair artfully concealed her nether regions from his prying eyes, but the rest of her-wonderfully wide hips, creamy thighs, long and luscious legs-was all open to his gaze.

This was to be Sasuke's first exposure to Rias' curvaceous body-and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

Sasuke was just glad that she had her eyes closed, but Sasuke spent a full ten seconds just staring at her, mouth agape.

Then he looked away.

"Put some clothes on," he said gruffly, and Rias paused.

"Oh, my apologies," Rias murmured. "I suppose I forget that other people do not have personal boundaries as liberal as mine; I hope I did not offend you, Sasuke-san."

"It's fine." Sasuke said.

He could swear that someone was staring at him-the only candidate for that was Xenovia, but when he cast a look up at her, still perched in the tree, she was looking well away from him.

Sasuke shook his head, clambered to his feet, and attempted to rid his mind of spherical, fleshy objects.

Once everyone was awake, they prepared to depart: packing up the tent, eating a small breakfast, and thinking about cold showers in the absence of being able to take one-that last part applied only to Sasuke, of course.

And they set out.

As luck would have it, that day they made it to a town-even with the regular breaks they were forced to take at the three girls's behest.

The first stop they made was at a clothing store.

"Can't I get something a little less… drab?" Rias said, as she gazed at the cloak in her hands, big and brown, able to cover her entire body and a half.

"No," Sasuke said. "You three stand out too much as it is: for right now, we need to do as much as possible to minimize your presence."

He also neglected to mention the fact that these great cloaks obscured all of their curves as well. At times he had gotten a little distracted on their journey… and well, Sasuke would like to remain in control of his head when it came down to the wire.

Because really, he wasn't exactly worried about being ambushed by bandits or anything like that-but he was worried about what kind of reputation hit he would take if said bandits saw him with a tremendous hardon. Especially since he couldn't exactly just kill them in front of the three of them, and not to mention that whole 'redemption' thing blah, blah, blah.

Still that problem was mostly fixed.

Mostly.

"Can we stop somewhere to eat?" Irina asked-Xenovia and Rias readily agreed with her, and they all turned to face Sasuke with pouty eyes in Irina and Rias' case and a stern look in Xenovia's.

He sighed.

Sasuke slipped his wallet, a thin drawstring pouch, out of his pocket. He would have find some work to do before they left the village, but he might be able to pay for dinner and a night's stay, so long as they eat conservatively.

"Fine," Sasuke said. "But we're not ordering any more than what you need to fill your stomachs."

"Yay!" Irina chirped.

"There's so many places here we could choose from!" Rias exclaimed, her eyes wide as she gazed from side to side, at the various restaurants and shops that lined the streets. "They all look so sumptuous!" She sniffed the air, and let out a great big sigh, hands slipping beneath her cloak to rest on her belly. "Where can we start, Sasuke-san?"

"Start?" He scoffed. "You pick one place, and that's the only one we're going to."

"How come?" Rias asked. "Surely someone of your status would be able to afford more, if you so wished."

Sasuke pursed his lips together. "What would make you assume I have any status at all?" he asked quietly.

"Well, I- I mean," Irina spoke up, "you do look kind of like a… um… aristocrat."

"You've got the look for a noblemen," Xenovia clarified for Irina. "Are you not one?"

"I was," Sasuke said. "Not anymore. I have the status perhaps, the pride, the honor and the code-but not the money or the assets to back it up." He rubbed his chin absentmindedly. "Well? Find a restaurant, before I pick one for you."

Rias shook her head. "Come on guys," she said to Xenovia and Irina, "where do you want to go?"

"I'm fine with wherever," Irina said with a shrug. For some reason, she seemed perfectly comfortable with all the food choices that were around them.

"All these places seem so… exotic," Xenovia murmured. "I'm not even sure where to start to be honest."

"Ramen?" Rias suggested, eyes lingering on what could have been a replica of Ichiraku's Ramen.

"No," Sasuke said.

"Dango?" Irina said, her voice chirpy.

"No," Sasuke repeated.

"I thought it was our choice!" Xenovia pointed out, shooting Sasuke a glare.

Sasuke's lips curled upward. "I'm the one paying," he said. "I said I'll let you three choose where we go, but I didn't say that I won't veto your choice if I so choose."

Xenovia grumbled something under her breath, though Rias and Irina seemed undeterred.

"How about one of those modern cafes?" Xenovia said, as the other two had spent at least a minute squabbling over what place they could go to. "I'm sure we could get something for everyone there."

"Hmm," Rias and Irina hummed in unison. They turned to Sasuke, and once again in perfect sync- "What do you think, Sasuke-san/Sasuke?"

"I'm fine with it, I suppose," Sasuke said.

"Let's go, then~!" Irina said, and she lead the course-her cloak flapped up as she jogged ahead, the other two girls following close behind. Sasuke heaved a sigh, and trailed after them.

The door ringed as Irina pushed it open. Xenovia was the second inside, and Rias held the door open for Sasuke as he stepped into the cafe. A few of the patrons gave them a glance, but nothing more than that. It was just three girls with colorful hair-colorful hair wasn't out of the ordinary in the elemental nations.

Then, they felt the need to take their cloaks off.

Sitting down at a booth, Rias on his right, Xenovia and Irina across from him, Sasuke felt truly as if he was in hell. Every male customer seemed to have their gazes glued to their table-but it wasn't just three girls with colorful hair, but three beautiful, busty girls with colorful hair.

All seated with a single man.

And he'd thought they had hated him back in Konoha..

"I would love to have some dango!" Rias said. "I've always wanted to try it!"

"You've never had it before?" Irina asked.

"Well…" Rias paused, and tapped a finger against the side of her chin. "I can't remember if I've had it before or not, but it does look delicious, no?" She turned to Sasuke. "Have you ever had it, Sasuke-san?"

"I did," he said.

"And?"

"It was disgusting."

"Oh…" Rias said, looking crestfallen. "Maybe I shouldn't get it then."

"No," Sasuke murmured, after a moment of deliberation. "I just don't like sweet things like that."

"I'm pretty sure I've had dango before," Irina said, "and I'm sure you'll love it, Rias-san!"

"Alright," Rias said, smiling. "I suppose I'll get it, then." She tucked a curl of crimson hair behind her ear. "What are you going to get, Xenovia-san?"

"I think I'll get soup," Xenovia decided.

"How about you, Sasuke-san?" Rias asked.

He shrugged noncommittally. "I suppose I'll get a bowl of soup as well," Sasuke murmured.

The waitress came around, a brown mousy woman with a ring glinting on her finger. Still, she openly made googly eyes at Sasuke. "What can I get you?" she said, staring directly at him.

"The tomato soup will do," Sasuke said.

The waitress sighed happily. She shook her head, as if to dispel a trance, then turned to Rias. "And you, ma'am?" There was a hard edge to her tone.

"I'll take a platter of dango, please," Rias said.

"And you?" the waitress said to Irina, that edge to her voice still plainly evident.

"The same, please," Irina told her.

"And you?" This time it was to Xenovia, and yes, she still sounded like a jealous ex-wife when she said it.

"I'll take the mixed vegetable soup," Xenovia said.

The waitress scribbled down their orders on a thin notepad. 'Did she put a heart next to Sasuke's?' Rias pondered, and she craned her neck to look.

"I'll be right back with your orders," the waitress said curtly. "And yours will be up in no time," she told Sasuke, her voice sultry-she flashed him a wink, and then strode off.

Rias openly frowned. "Where does that woman get off?" she said. "Being so rude and hostile to us! We are paying customers, are we not?"

"Why was she so friendly to Sasuke, though?" Irina asked.

"Because she wants to fuck him." Xenovia said.

Irina and Rias stared at her. Sasuke shook his head slightly, and stared out the window.

"You think so?" Rias questioned.

"Of course she does," Xenovia said. "You two have noticed that he's good looking, haven't you? He's not my type-" Why did it sound like she was lying through her teeth? "-but even I can tell you that any ordinary woman would want to screw his brains out."

Rias bit her lip. Irina cast a look in Sasuke's direction, flushed slightly, and looked down.

"It's normal," Sasuke said. "Those idiotic women drool over me any chance they get."

"Wait-how often does this kind of stuff happen?" Rias asked.

Sasuke rubbed his chin. "I stayed in a village for a week or so a short while back," he said, "and left with two marriage offers and about a dozen single women trying to hunt me down."

"Oh."

"I'm surprised you agreed to travel with us," Xenovia said. "You'd think that there would be some misogynistic tendencies with that kind of behavior from all the women you've seen."

He shrugged. "You three don't seem that rabid," Sasuke said. "Plus… I suppose I thought you could make a good deterrent."

"A deterrent?" Irina asked, her voice hardly above a mouse's.

"Sort of," Sasuke said, his fingers tapping on the table top. "You'd think that being surrounded by three women would make them think twice about approaching me in that way; that is not the case, apparently."

"Wait…" Rias said. "What, do they think we're your harem or something?"

"I do not think that's a common thing in this world," Xenovia said. "These people seem kind of stuck up-I doubt they accept anything less than a monogamous relationship."

"Harems… are not a regular occurance," Sasuke confirmed. This conversation wasn't exactly comfortable for him, and he shifted awkwardly in his seat.

"Hmm," Rias hummed. "I suppose it doesn't really matter, does it? It's unfortunate that those… those… fangirls will not back down, even when you're with us, Sasuke-san."

Xenovia shrugged. "There's nothing that breaking a few bones can't fix," she said. "I'm sure they'll stop when they realize we pack a punch."

"Woah. Before we resort to violence, shouldn't we ask Sasuke-" Irina began.

"If it gets them off of my back," Sasuke said, "do what you have to do."

Xenovia and Rias smirked. "I suppose we can start paying back your kindness then," Rias said. There was a glint in her eyes, and her gaze swiveled to look at their waitress, who was busy attending to another table. "One fangirl at a time…"

Around fifteen minutes passed before they were given their food; Sasuke's tomato soup was brought out first, piping hot and looking positively delicious, while the rest of the girls received their food a minute or so later, given by the waitress who seemed to be quaking beneath their combined glares.

"Thanks," Rias said, voice like cracked ice and just as chipped.

The waitress practically ran away with her tail tucked between her legs. Sasuke smirked, and began to eat his soup.

Once they were done, they walked out with their bellies considerably full and Sasuke's wallet a little lighter than it had been originally. A lot lighter actually… he knew he should have stopped them from ordering that damn tea.

"We need to find an inn," he said to them, glad that they had pulled those big cloaks back on and concealed their sinfully curvy frames. "Some place we can stay for the night."

"We know what an inn is." Xenovia scoffed. "And I'm sure we can find one around here somewhere."

"Like right there?" Irina pointed out-literally, as she extended her hand and jabbed a finger in the direction of what could only be an inn. There was a sign on the front that read 'The Sleeping Shinobi Inn'.

"Oh," Rias said. "That was easy, wasn't it?"

"Pretty convenient too," Xenovia murmured, voice almost suspicious.

Sasuke gave a little shrug that could almost be non-existent. "Let's go," he said, and he took the lead for the first time since they had entered the town. The girls trailed behind him; the door was squeaky, and sounded as if it needed an entire can of oil. He pushed it open, and the innkeeper-a short, bald man-looked up.

"How can I help you?" the man said.

"What are the rates on your rooms?" Sasuke asked.

The innkeeper pointed at a sign behind him. Sasuke's lips curled downward as he read the price. 'Shit', he thought. He already knew what the problem was, but still, he pulled out his drawstring pouch and swiftly counted his money.

He had enough to pay for a single room; two rooms, maybe, but that would leave him with so little money that he'd have to hunt and forage for four people once they left town.

The truth dawned on him, like the sun might appear after a cold, bitter night.

He was going to have to share a room with these women..

"Well?" he heard Xenovia say. "What are you waiting for?"

Sasuke swallowed. "We're going to need a single room," he said.

The innkeeper blinked. "Sir, we don't allow those kind of… stays here." The implication was obvious.

"It's not like that," he said quietly. "Just book the room, and if we break any rules feel free to throw us out as you please."

The man bit his lip. "You're going to need to pay ten percent extra then," he said.

"Five percent."

"Seven percent?" the innkeeper suggested.

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow. "Three percent."

"You can't-"

The glare Sasuke shot him stopped whatever protest he had.

"R-right," the man said. "Three percent extra." Which figured out to practically nothing added onto the tab; Sasuke paid the money, and the innkeeper pressed the room key into his hand "Have a nice stay, s-sir," he said.

"What did he think we were going to do that made him charge extra?" Irina asked, as they walked up the ornate wooden stairs to the second floor.

Xenovia and Rias exchanged a glance, and chose not to say anything. Sasuke's lips twitched. Irina's face twisted and turned-then, it hit her.

"Oh…" she said, and her face turned red. "I see…"

Sasuke let out a chuckle, and the three women looked at him in genuine surprise. That seemed a little… out of the ordinary for someone like him. Still, even Xenovia smiled a tad, and Rias flashed a wink in Irina's direction that caused her flush to darken.

They arrived at their room. It was a cozy one, warm, the hardwood floors gleaming with fresh polish, the window giving a gorgeous view of the city. Perhaps they could have bought a cheaper room elsewhere, but Sasuke knew that it was unlikely they'd settle for something on the lower end of the price scale.

Girls like Rias didn't exactly scream 'frugal' when it came to finances-from the way she looked, everything shiny, her movements graceful and elegant, she looked as if she'd grown awash in luxury; Irina and Xenovia didn't seem quite as 'upper class' as her, but they weren't working poor by any means.

Whatever; he'd already paid for the room, and he wasn't about to go down there and negotiate for a lower price.

Actually..

Hmm.

No, it was too risky-if word reached anyone that a man with red eyes was extorting people in a town, he'd be further up Naruto's shit list than previously thought possible.

Sasuke sighed.

The three girls filed into the room one by one, letting out relieved groans as they pulled off their cloaks and kicked off their sandals. Sasuke closed the door behind them, and locked it.

"There's only one bed!" Irina exclaimed.

Sasuke shook his head. What had she been expecting?

"I'll sleep on the floor," he said.

There was a slight pause. "I don't think that's quite fair, Sasuke-san," Rias said. "After all, you are the one paying for the room; you shouldn't be relegated to the floor so callously."

"I don't mind it," Sasuke murmured.

Irina tapped the floor with a foot-solid wood, and there was little to no carpet; not enough for a man like Sasuke to spread out across at least.

Xenovia rolled her eyes. "The three of us are going to end up sharing the bed, probably," she said, and there was a lilt to her voice that made Sasuke frown. "You might as well join-it'll be cramped as it is, and I'd rather not have the person guiding us through this world to have back pains."

"Yeah! You can just sleep in the bed with us, Sasuke!" Irina said.

"That sounds like an acceptable arrangement to me," Rias said, a soft smile gracing her features.

Sasuke stared at them, and realized that there would be no compromise. They would likely drag him onto the mattress if he tried to fight, and so, with a sigh and a roll of his shoulders, Sasuke said-

"Fine."

Half an hour later, after they had all settled down, Sasuke found himself in an interesting spot.

Xenovia and Irina were sandwiched on one side of him, Rias on the other; Irina seemed a restless sleeper, and she kept rolling over, pressing her curves into his side and grumbling random things he couldn't discern.

Rias shifted beside him. Her eyes open for a moment-and he could feel her move closer, as if to see if he was sleeping.

"Rias," Sasuke breathed, "if you take your clothes off I'm going to make you sleep outside."

"B-but!"

"Go to sleep."

Rias pouted and whined, something that looked so incredibly unbecoming for a woman of her stature, but eventually she managed to drift off as well.

Sasuke's breathing evened out, and soon, he allowed himself to sleep.

And that was how Sasuke ended up sharing a bed for the first time with the three women that would reshape his life.

* * *

 **And that's what we would call a wrap.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter; it was around the same length as the previous one, but I doubt I'll keep any uniform 'length' to my chapters. I'll say what I need to say in them, and that can make it anywhere from 3k words to maybe even 10k on some chapters, so don't get comfortable there. As for plot, well, this story is more so going to be a slice of life fic. There's going to be smudges of plot, drama and such there, but for the most part I intend it to be light hearted.**

 **As always, I'm going to ask you to leave a review. It takes what... 30 seconds out of your life? That's nothing at all, just a drop in the ocean, and you can really really improve my day by doing so. Not to mention you don't even need an account to do it! Just take the time of out of your day my dudes, and you'll do a lot for me. Also, don't forget to favorite and follow ;).**

 **Thanks for reading, and as always, have an awesome day.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Jesus! I'm sure other stories have gotten a lot more reviews than mine, but the feedback I got for the first two chapters was profoundly... awesome. Over 50 reviews and well over a hundred favorites and follows - which is awesome! Really, keep it up guys. I appreciate each and every review, favorite, and follow you leave me on a story like this.**

 **Now, a few things I believe I forgot. I don't think I ever actually mentioned whether Sasuke has one arm or two - he has two in this story; whether he never lost his original arm, or replaced it with a zetsu arm, I will leave for you to decide. Or I'll decide that at a later date, lol.**

 **Anyway, that's enough of me yapping. Enjoy!**

* * *

Sasuke was glad for a great number of things in his life. For instance: there was his intellect, his prodigious talent, his potent genetics, and that was just to name a few from a decently sized list.

Though… one thing he had never considered being thankful was his internal clock - a sort of innate ability to wake up whenever he wished. It was something… natural… instinctual even; but never had he thought of it as a _gift_.

At least, until that day... because Sasuke wasn't sure if he could handle two of the three girls he'd found himself traveling with realize that they had… for lack of a better word… _cuddled_ up against him in the middle of the night, so that more curves than half the village of Konoha were pressed against him.

He held his breath, and hoped to whatever god there was that his morning 'problem' would go away soon. And yes, there was more than one 'problem' he had - Sasuke was a man… and though he had a better grasp on his libido than most of his gender, he was still susceptible to situations like this.

' _At least Rias managed to keep her clothes on,'_ Sasuke thought.

Sasuke was stuck between a rock and a hard place - the three of them seemed more than content to remain snuggled against him, though to be fair, it was an unconscious move on their part. Rias's head was laid gently on his shoulder. Irina's head had found its way right in the center of his chest, as if he were some sort of fleshy pillow. Xenovia alone seemed to have resisted the temptation… she was isolated from the three of them, occupying a thin strip on the edge of the mattress.

Sasuke allowed himself a breath.

He was calm - remarkably calm, but he almost wished that he wasn't. At the very least, he wished that his heart would beat harder so it could drown out the sound of their rhythmic breathing; which, for reasons he would be hard pressed to explain, sounded _wondrous_ to his ears - a symphony of sorts, caressing him, soothing away in bits and pieces that pent-up anger he still carried.

Sasuke took another breath. Sheer willpower allowed his 'problem' to gradually subside. Soon, he found himself gently untangling himself from the jungle of arms and bodies and heads - it took some time… he was gracious enough to not simply elbow them out of the way and wake them… but eventually, he managed.

Once he was clear, the Uchiha eased himself off of the bed. It was still remarkably early, and he could feel tinges of fatigue progressively gnawing at the edge of his vision. A quick glance in the mirror told him that those dark circles under his eyes hadn't diminished in the slightest, despite the fact he had gotten some of the best sleep in recent memory these past few nights.

' _I think that I could do with a shower,'_ Sasuke mused. He had found a river to bathe in the other day - but that couldn't quite compare to the luxury of hot water, soap, and conditioner.

He opened his rucksack, pulling out a fresh change of clothes from within. Sasuke allowed himself a soft yawn as he stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind him - and perhaps it was a lapse of attention, or the fact that he had grown accustomed to being alone, but he mistakenly forgot to lock the door behind him…

Sasuke stripped, turned the shower on, and soon, the bathroom was filled with steam and the sound of running water.

She stirred, gently at first, but growing more aware as the running water continued to go on and on. Xenovia cracked her eyes open - alert, and more importantly, wondering how she had ended up snuggled so close to Irina.

Xenovia shook her head, choosing to leave the sleeping Irina to her own devices; the blue haired woman eased herself to her feet, stretching and letting out a soft groan as her bones and joints popped in that infinitely pleasing way.

She held her breath; and took a quick inventory of things - there was Irina, still fast asleep… and there was Rias right beside her. That meant that Sasuke was in the shower.

Which was unfortunate - because Xenovia found that she _really_ had to go to the bathroom, and there was no way she was going to tramp about downstairs looking for one when there was a bathroom right there. It looked as if his inflated sense of privacy was going to have to be put on the shelf for a little while - whether he liked it or not, because Xenovia had already crossed the room and stopped before the bathroom door.

"Oi," she said, knocking on the door. "I'm coming in!"

" _What?_ "

She opened the door.

Sasuke turned his back to her - he wasn't embarrassed or anything, but there was this thing called _modesty_ that had been drilled into him from a young age; and apparently, that was something their world lacked.

"What do you think you're doing?" he ground out, voice dark.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Xenovia said plainly, gently closing the door behind her.

She paused for a moment, staring at him - the steam had not yet completely blurred out his form through the glass. Xenovia pursed her lips together, tilting her head to the side.

"Is there a reason why you are so… shy?" she asked. "I don't see a reason for you to be that way; you aren't… deformed or something of that sort, are you?"

He closed his eyes.

"Get… _out_ ," Sasuke growled. He was half tempted to get out and throw her out of the bathroom - but that would involve exposing more of himself than he was prepared to go with Xenovia.

"In just a moment." Xenova hummed.

And she went about her business, Sasuke able to hear… every… _sound_ , even above the running water. He ground his teeth together, closed his eyes, and tried to rein in that anger the bubbled beneath the surface; _'No, Sasuke,'_ he thought. _'You can't go and murder her because she decided to trespass personal boundaries.'_

He was _so_ tempted though…

Sasuke shook his head.

Xenovia was finished in less than a minute. She pulled her skirt back up - and paused for the briefest of moments… there was a hint of something akin to mischief in her eyes as she turned to the shower.

"Hey, Sasuke?" Xenovia called. " _Now_ we're even." Clearly, she hadn't just forgotten about him humiliating her by so effortlessly defeating her the other day.

With a simple press of her finger, she flushed the toilet.

Now, Sasuke _was_ an Uchiha… he was made of tough stuff; but that didn't make the scalding water any less painful - to his credit, not even a grunt of pain escaped his lips.

"Well? Are we even, Sas-uke?" Xenovia asked with a laugh to her voice - it hadn't been a malicious action… more of a joke than anything, but it did serve a purpose to help salvage her bruised pride. Not to mention it was more than amusing to the blue haired woman.

" _Get out."_ Sasuke growled once more.

Xenovia chucked, deciding to finally show some form of mercy by leaving. The door closed behind her, and Sasuke let out a sigh - the barrage of scalding water had finally ceased, and his privacy was once again intact.

' _I need to make a note to myself,'_ Sasuke thought, pressing a hand against the glass and trying to ignore the stinging his of his reddened skin. _'Never leave the bathroom door unlocked.'_

It was almost funny: most men would dream of a beautiful woman slipping into the bathroom while they were taking a shower. Then again, msot men probably imagined that they'd have some 'fun', not be embarrassed and left with skin so red you could have mistaken it for Rias's hair…

He sighed. Sasuke was not the type to let this kind of thing to go… _unpunished_. _'But,'_ he thought. _'I did humiliate her. And it's not like she did much… I could just let it go for once, I suppose._

Sasuke pondered it for a moment.

' _Nope.'_ It was decided - he would have to find some way to get back at her… the real question was _how_. And that was something that could be answered at a later date, preferably when there wasn't a chance that Irina or Rias would happen to pop in; knowing Rias, she would be liable to try and _join_ _him_ in the shower… and Sasuke wasn't sure what his reaction to that would be.

He finished up his shower in record time - after he was done, Sasuke toweled himself off and pulled on a fresh change of clothes. There was still a tinge of tiredness in his bones; perhaps he could dry his hair, then try to get a little more sleep before they headed out. Some rest would be needed… it would be best for him to get a job or two done before they left town, so he would have enough cash for food and such on the road, and for when they stopped in an inn the next time.

Xenovia had laid back down on the bed by the time Sasuke stepped back into the room proper - judging by the gentle rise and fall of her chest, she had fallen asleep. Rias and Irina were in the same state.

He was tempted to sleep on the floor… but for once, Sasuke allowed that _sinful_ side of him to take control of what he would do - and he really could not turn down the opportunity to be sandwiched between these three buxom beauties a second time.

Sasuke swallowed; he was becoming more and more like Naruto as the days passed. Some would see that as a good thing - but the prideful Uchiha couldn't deny the sting that came along that realization.

He lifted up the sheets… and paused.

Sasuke looked down, to see Rias's discarded skirt and shirt laying on the floor beside the bed. On the bed, he could see that she was plainly wearing nothing more than a thong - and it seemed as if her bra had 'somehow' gotten unhooked.

What kind of girl subconsciously undressed herself?

He sighed, shaking his head. There was no telling what his body would do if he climbed into bed with _that_ , so he allowed the sheets to fall.

 _'Might as well get started on those jobs now,'_ he thought. It only took him a moment to gather up his things: sword, his cloak though he left his rucksack behind. He scribbled a small note for one of the three to find when they woke up - and with a swish of his cloak, left through the window.

A few people gave him odd looks as he came sailing out of a window, landing in a roll. He dusted himself off, shot a batty old woman a glare, and set off down the road.

From personal experience he knew a few good places in a town that one could seek out for a job. A little bit of asking around… a few questions, a few answers… and soon, he had a task: to help clear out a few trees, so that a new field could be used for crops the next planting season.

It wasn't that complex a task - it was no thick forest, merely a dozen or so trees that dotted the clearing… it would have been a few days work for a civilian, but a shinobi of Sasuke's caliber would have no problem.

The couple that hired him watched from afar as he stepped up to the first tree. Blue light illuminated the surrounding area - the chirping of a thousand birds filled the air, and it was with a blazing _Chidori_ that Sasuke cut down the first tree…

* * *

While Xenovia had technically been the first to 'wake up', Irina was to first to truly start her day. No less than half an hour after Sasuke departed did she wake up - yawning and stretching, shaking her head at the familiar sight of Rias's nude body beneath the covers, the remaining vestiges of her clothing having been discarded.

Irina eased herself off the bed with some difficulty. Xenovia rolled over to fill the empty space that Irina and Sasuke had once occupied - there was a satisfying smirk playing across her lips… she was still asleep, but something seemed to have immensely pleased her. It made Irina a little happy; Xenovia was always a tad grouchy around new people, and the prospect of her finally growing used to Sasuke's presence was a nice one indeed.

"Where did he go?" Irina wondered out loud. Perhaps out to eat? Or maybe he was in the bathroom… which she quickly found out to be untrue, as the door was open and a quick peek inside revealed it to be empty. Then, she found the note.

' _Went out to find work,'_ it read. _'Be back soon enough; I left some money, just enough so the three of you should be able to get some basic for breakfast. Don't overindulge. - Sasuke.'_

There was some money on the table now that she noticed it - but something felt… wrong about taking a third of it and eating without Xenovia or Rias… or Sasuke.

' _What kind of 'work' is he up to?'_ Irina pondered, setting the note back down. She was undeniably curious - and it wasn't as if she had anything better to do; perhaps she could seek him out, and maybe even help him. At the very least she could do him that kindness, for guiding her and her friends through this unknown world.

He'd left the pen that he had used to write the original note on the table, so Irina took that and added a brief addendum- _'Went to go find Sasuke and help him out some. Be back later! - Irina.'_

Irina wasn't quite as flashy as Sasuke - and like a normal person, she decided to use the _door_ , and the _stairs_ , instead of leaping out the window like some kind of idiot. Or ninja.

Once she was out on the street, she was faced with a dilemma: where on Earth could Sasuke have gone? This wasn't a massive town by any mean… but having to search it from top to bottom for a single person seemed a daunting task.

It was fortunate for her that Sasuke stood out quite a bit on his own. Irina had an epiphany - she walked up to a nearby woman who was seated at a table outside of a cafe, and flashed her a brilliant smile.

"Hi," Irina chirped. "Did you see a tall, dark haired, dark eyed man walk through here a little while ago?"

"I don't think that I did," the woman replied.

Irina tapped the side of her chin. "He was also _very_ handsome," she added.

The woman was silent for a moment - Irina silently noted the ring that glistened on her finger. Then… with some reluctance, she lifted her hand and pointed down the road. "He went that way," the woman said.

"Thank you!" Irina told her, before the chestnut haired girl hurried down the road.

A pattern had been set, and Irina used her secret technique to locate Sasuke: she asked every other woman on the road for where an extraordinarily handsome man had gone. For whatever reason, every single one of them seemed to know who she was talking about.

It lead her through the village, until finally, Irina was directed to a (mostly) empty clearing. "Hello," she said to a sweet, elderly couple that stood on the outskirts of the clearing. "Do you know where-"

 _Crash!_

Irina's gaze shifted, and she gasped as a tree was scythed down, as if the wood was made of nothing more than thin barley. A figure stood up - and it was recognizable as none other than…

"Sasuke!" Irina called, darting forward. "Yay! I finally found you… jeez, that took long enough!"

"Irina?" he said, turning to look at her. "What are you doing here? I told the three of you in that note to go and get yourself something to eat - we'll be leaving as soon as I'm done with this, and we don't have any time to waste."

Irina merely grinned at him. "Xenovia and Rias-san were still asleep!" she said. "I didn't want to eat without them… or you… so instead, I came out here to find you!"

He looked at her for a moment. "Alright," Sasuke said, with a noncommittal shrug that accompanied his words. "I suppose you could help with this a little. I use a technique of mine to saw these trees into… well, movable logs I guess you could call them. All you have to do is pick them up, not to mention the branches, and move them there," He directed her gaze to an already abundant pile of logs and branches, stacked up in a corner of the clearing where it could be later moved. Or burned if need be.

"Sounds easy!" Irina bounced up and down on her heels.

"We'll see," Sasuke murmured.

He calmly unsheathed his sword - Irina awed as it began to crackle with electricity before her eyes. Sasuke was effortlessly precise; she took a step back as he went to work, hacking the branches off the tree. She was careful to stay out of his way, but once he was done with a section Irina scurried in and began to carry the branches to the stack that he had asked her to deposit them in.

Once all the branches were off, he went to work on the log itself - first he cut it in half, sawing through it with his blade able to pass through the wood like butter, owing to his sheer strength and the electricity running through it. Then, he cut it up in sections; the result wasn't _logs_ in a traditional nature… more wooden, oddly shaped blocks that Irina could pick up and haul two at a time.

It was time consuming - but the pay had been more than good for something like this. Once he was finished sawing the tree, Sasuke helped Irina with carrying the 'logs' to the stack… once they were done with that, he moved onto the next tree, and the process repeated.

Again, it took quite a while… and by the time they were done, Irina was panting and wobbling on her feet; her shirt was soaked through with sweat, bra plainly visible through the fabric, and her hair hung limp at her sides. Even Sasuke looked a little worn.

But the money that the elderly couple put in his hand made it all worth it. Sasuke counted it right there and then, Irina gasping for breath at his side; with this kind of finance, they could probably make it to Konoha without having to do another job, so long as they were somewhat frugal.

Sasuke took a deep breath, allowing the fresh, sickly sweet air to circulate through his system.

"You ready to go, Irina?" he asked gently.

She fell to the ground. "I'm… so… _tired_ ," she moaned into the grass.

Sasuke allowed himself a sigh. "Get up," he said, towering above her, his shadow leaving her in darkness.

"... tired…" Irina mumbled.

Another sigh. He was probably going to regret this - but again, they had no time to waste. And it wasn't like he hadn't had every part of his personal boundaries violated anyway.

Sasuke grasped her under the arm, and pulled Irina to her feet. She wobbled slightly - but there was no time for her to fall down all over again, because with ease he hefted her onto his back.

"Put your legs around me," he murmured. "And wrap your arms around my neck - if you fall off, I'm not picking you up again."

Irina blinked several times. But gradually she complied… wrapping her legs around his torso, and her arms around his neck as he had instructed her to do. Her head found its resting place on his shoulder.

He began to walk, his hands gripping the underside of her legs for leverage. It was quiet as they went - it was a short journey back to the town proper, but it was made longer by the fact that Sasuke had an extra forty-five kilos on his back.

Irina smiled. "Sorry for making you carry me like this," she murmured. "I was just so-"

"It doesn't matter," Sasuke grunted. "You have no reason to apologize for anything… so don't. It's as simple as that."

Irina nodded silently. His cloak had been put into a storage scroll about halfway through their job - and as she leaned back, she saw that white and red fan sewn into the back of his shirt. It was elegant work… clearly, he had paid top dollar, or somewhere close to that, in order to get the symbol put there in such high quality.

"What's this fan mean?" she hesitated to ask. "The one on the back of your shirt."

Sasuke did not pause but he did tense slightly - from her position, even the smallest of changes were evident to Irina.

"It's the symbol of my clan," he said, voice measured, though that tension in his bones did not subside in the least.

"You're part of a clan?" Irina asked.

"I suppose you could say that."

"Why do you 'suppose'?"

"Because." And Sasuke's voice was more measured than ever - a sort of hollowness to it that made Irina's heart clench. "There isn't much of a clan to talk about anymore."

Irina didn't want to begin to consider the implications of that; so she, wisely, chose to not bring it up again.

People eyed them strangely as they made their way back into the village - but Sasuke had long since stopped caring about what other people thought of him, and Irina was too absorbed in his warmth to spare much attention to them.

The inn beckoned, Sasuke deciding to make their entrance through the still open window.

He set Irina down on the bed, and she flashed him a grin. "Thanks," she said, groaning as she stretched out her still sore legs and arms.

The shower was running. "Rias?" Sasuke called through the door.

"Yes?" she replied from the inside, voice high and chirpy.

"Where did Xenovia go?"

"She went down to get us all something to eat," Rias said.

"I see," Sasuke said. "I'll go down and help her carry the things up, I suppose." He also didn't want to be privy to whatever… _sounds_ Rias made when she showered. "Irina?"

"I think I'll get in after Rias comes out," Irina murmured, stretching out on the bed. "Make sure Xenovia gets us something good, alright? She has… strange tastes for a culture like ours, so be careful."

"Sure."

Sasuke departed through the window once more. He had no idea where to begin to look for her - but suddenly… something occurred to him. A little something that had hit him when he'd been carrying Irina… such close proximity had made him realize something; something that could change a lot of things if it were to be true.

He formed a hand seal, and spread out his senses.

A jolt of shock went through him.

There was Xenovia - and as clear as day, he could feel her _chakra signature_. It was weak… hardly above a civilian's… but it was there.

Hadn't they come from a world where chakra wasn't a thing? That had been his initial impression at least…

' _Well,'_ Sasuke thought, as he set off for Xenovia's location. _'That springs a lot of problems on me at once; good thing life has_ _finally_ _decided to give me a break.'_ Even the tone of his voice in his head sounded sarcastic.

Xenovia was inside the same cafe that the four of them had visited for food the previous day. She stood in front of the counter… a pensive look on her features as she gazed at the menu options.

"Is there anything… _normal_ in here?" Sasuke heard her mutter as he walked up behind her.

Sasuke leaned on the counter beside her. "Everything in there _is_ normal," Sasuke murmured. "For everyone aside from you apparently."

She jumped slightly, but there was a calmness in her eyes as she turned to face him. "I remember… bits and pieces from where we came from," Xenovia murmured. "All this stuff reminds me of a place called… I think it was called Japan."

"Well, there's no such thing as a Japan in this world," Sasuke informed her curtly. "But I have to ask you something else: do you remember what kind of… powers you had there?"

"Only a little," she confessed. "Angels, demons - very broad and general things, and the details escape me."

"I see," Sasuke murmured.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because." He rubbed his chin. "It seems that you're developing powers from _this_ world."

Xenovia frowned. "What does that mean for me? For the three of us?"

"I don't know." And he was being perfectly truthful when he said that. "We can discuss it later," Sasuke murmured. "Go ahead and order your food - I can get things that I believe Rias and Irina will like."

"Alright," she said, though that tinge of… fear? Or perhaps it was worry - whatever it was, it did not leave her voice even a little.

They ordered their breakfast - Sasuke decided on simple onigiri for he, Rias, and Irina… something that shouldn't cause too much of a fuss. A few rice balls could sate anyone's hunger, and it was lenient on cash to get them. Xenovia ended up getting a soup, the same as last time, except this one was put into a plastic box of sorts.

And they went back to the motel.

"Xenovia," Sasuke murmured.

"Hmm?" she asked - they were just outside the door to the room… for once, Sasuke chose to use that.

"Don't tell the other two about the fact that all three of you are developing powers from this world," he said. "It's best to keep that a secret for now - when my rinnegan is refreshed and I can send you on your way, I'm sure whatever you had in that other world will come back."

Xenovia nodded. "Okay," she said. "I suppose I wouldn't want them to worry. And we _will_ talk about it later, yes?"

"We will."

Sasuke cleared his throat, and opened the door.

* * *

 **Here's the end of this chapter. I understand that the return to Konoha might be taking a little while, but sometimes the journey is just as important as the destination. Not to mention the fact that I have my reasons for dragging out their journey - you guys should see in due time.  
**

 **As always, I love your feedback - reviews, favorites, follows, private messages... I love it all! I appreciate every little bit, so please, give me all you've got. I've been pretty bad about responding to reviews as of late but I'll try and pick up the slack there.**

 **Thank you for reading - and as always, have an awesome day. Cheers!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Another chapter. Sorry for the delay, but I caught up with some stuff and personal problems that made it a little harder to write at my usual tempo. Still, I got it to you guys before long, so I hope you guys enjoy it. As always, I'll really appreciate whatever feedback you guys can give me in the reviews. A follow and a favorite don't hurt as well.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

This new found discovery swirled around his head - nagging at him, borderline-infuriating him, making him scrunch his eyebrows and scowl. He wasn't a bubbly person by any means, but even the girls noticed that his mood was a little darker than normal; only Xenovia was privy to the reason why.

Chakra. These three girls, from a wholly different world - who were supposedly 'angels' or 'demons' or something like that - had chakra. It seemed almost ridiculous to him, but it was indeed the undeniable truth. Sasuke was an extraordinarily experienced shinobi, and when he sensed chakra inside of Xenovia, Rias, and Irina, then there _was_ chakra. He was not out of his mind - well, at least not as of right then.

He exhaled.

Sasuke decided that he needed to put it out of his mind. He had plenty of time to think about it later - and he didn't want to tip off Irina or Rias either. Xenovia would be trouble enough since he would have to explain to her what exactly the ramifications of her having chakra could be. But until he had more information, there was no point in telling Rias or Irina, or at least that was his reasoning.

It truly was an intriguing concept though, that these girls could somehow develop the ability to generate and perhaps even mould chakra if they were trained properly. Perhaps, it was a side effect of his rinnegan? He couldn't be sure - but it did make him wonder; if he had been the one to go to _their_ world, would he develop the abilities and energy unique to that place? Would he be sapped of his chakra and his limitless techniques and be given whatever it was the three of them used in their former world?

He didn't plan on finding out. Jumping headlong into a foreign world was a recipe for disaster, and Sasuke had no intention of simply abandoning everything he'd cultivated in this place. Not without settling everything that needed to be settled, at least.

They ate their food in relative silence. Both Rias and Irina had finished up their showers by the time he and Xenovia had come back upstairs - they were dressed in their usual clothes, towels wrapped around their heads and a flushed look about them, likely from the hot water of the hotel.

"Sasuke?" Irina said, after a few moments of comfortable quiet. "Can I ask you something?"

He glanced at her, blinking several times as if to clear away his previous train of thoughts. "Go ahead," he said.

"What kind of friends do you have?"

Sasuke frowned. "I'm not sure what you're implying," he said.

Irina blinked at him - innocently, not even an ounce of malice anywhere in her tone or gaze. "What?" she said, leaning forward slightly. "I just wanted to know what kind of friends you have; a guy like you, traveling on the road… you must have made loads of friends, right?"

To give himself a moment to formulate a response, Sasuke took a bite out of one of the rice balls clasped in his hand. He chewed slowly, not really sure how he could respond to that question without making himself look like a fool. The proper answer was a firm 'no', but he had a slight suspicion that they would either take pity on him, or believe he was lying.

In the end, he choose a middle ground.

"I've met a few people and made a few friends, I suppose," Sasuke said, after he finished chewing the onigiri. "But I've lived life on the road for years now, and none of them have stuck with me on my journey."

"That must get lonely," Rias commented.

Sasuke merely gave a noncommittal shrug. Irina folded her legs beneath her, throwing one of her pigtails over her shoulder. Xenovia remained quiet.

"What is life going to be like in this… Konoha…?" Rias asked, after a moment's pause in which they continued to eat their hearty breakfasts. "Is it a nice place?"

"If the people are all like Sasuke, I imagine it'll be a rather drab place," Xenovia commented. Her voice was quiet, but the other two did not seem to notice.

"Oh, don't be rude like that, Xenovia!" Irina said. "I'm sure Sasuke's home is a _very_ nice place, isn't that right?"

There were a lot of words Sasuke had to describe Konoha, and 'nice' wasn't exactly at the top of the list. Still, he wasn't looking to try and make them fearful of the village, especially when he was likely going to leave them there and go back on his journey.

"It has its moments," Sasuke said. "I wouldn't call it the best place in the world, but there's no lack of things to do there."

"I imagine we'll be spending a lot of time touring the place!" Rias said. "It ought to keep us preoccupied, at least until that eye of yours is recharged and we can make another attempt at going home."

"That's the plan," Sasuke murmured. He glanced around. Everyone seemed more or less done with their breakfast, aside from Xenovia who was practically sipping at dregs of her soup by now.

He eased himself up and out of the chair he had sat down on. Sasuke had hung his cloak up beside and the door, and with a swiftness to his step he went to grab it and swing it around his shoulders.

"Are we leaving?" Irina asked.

"We don't have any time to lose," Sasuke murmured. "Best to go ahead and get out of here. I imagine we'll have to spend another night sleeping outside, but it's not _too_ much longer to Konoha now."

"Good," Xenovia said. "I pray that your leader will be willing to give us suitable accommodations… as… lovely as all of you are, I sort of miss having a bed all to myself."

Irina grinned cheekily. "I mean, I like sleeping on my own, too," she said. "But sleeping next to Sasuke is pretty nice too - he's like our own personal heater to stave off the cold."

Rias rubbed her arm. "I have no qualms about sleeping next to any of you," she said. "I just wish that Sasuke wasn't quite so…"

"Prudeish?" Xenovia said.

"Well, I wouldn't have put it quite that _crudely_ ," Rias mumbled. "But something of that sort."

Sasuke sighed. "As I said, it's not that much longer before we get to Konoha. With any luck, each of you will have your own bed, your own room… and be far, _far_ away from me…" That last part he, of course, muttered to himself. None of them heard him - but Xenovia alone seemed to get the idea… she smirked in response. Irina and Rias remained blissfully oblivious.

They all started preparing to head out, throwing on cloaks and slipping into sandals; once everyone was ready, Sasuke lead the mini-procession out of the hotel room. He handed the key back to the innkeeper, and after that, they simply walked out of the front door.

There was a light rain that fell, prompting all of them to pull their hoods over their heads. Truthfully, four people walking down the street clad in big, bulky cloaks would have looked suspicious under normal circumstances - but Irina, Xenovia, and Rias's combined faces were much too soft and padded with baby fat to incline _anyone_ to think of them as being malicious. Sasuke was the obvious exception, but thankfully the trio of women canceled his shady appearance out.

Out of the village they strode, in silence that was broken only occasionally by a half-hearted attempt at conversation that fizzled out before long.

They continued to walk, and to walk.

"There's a river about two hundred meters that way you can bathe in," Sasuke said.

Rias and Irina blinked. "Together?" Irina said. "I'm not so sure about that, Sasuke…"

Sasuke sighed. "It's a decent sized river," he murmured. "I'm sure the two of you can put enough distance between each other to alleviate any concerns about privacy. We won't be stopping in a town anytime soon, so I would advise going there and washing off if you have any concerns about hygiene."

"And what about Xenovia?" Rias asked.

"If she wants to bathe with the two of you, then I'll send her along when she wakes up," Sasuke told her.

"And what about you?"

"I already did." He gestured to his slightly damp hair. "Before the two of you woke up, of course," Sasuke clarified.

"Oh, alright!" Rias said. "Irina and I will get a move on, then. Do you have any towels or anything like that…?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to air dry," he replied.

"You _do_ have that fancy little technique of yours, don't you?" Irina said. "Couldn't you, like, manipulate that fire to dry us off without burning us?"

He glanced at her. "I… well, I suppose I could," Sasuke said, though the idea of using his jutsu for non-combat purposes was a little odd.

"Great! You can just do that, then," Irina said

"Actually, we could probably wash our clothes as well," Rias murmured. "Best to take our cloaks with us, Irina-san, so we'll have something to cover up with after we get out."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Irina said. The two of them grabbed their cloaks from inside of the tent. After waving goodbye to Sasuke, they went off into the trees - quickly disappearing from view.

He waited a good minute and a half to make sure they were out of earshot. Then, he cleared his throat and said- "Alright, Xenovia. It's time to see just how far this goes."

A moment passed, before Xenovia gently crept out of the tent, having feigned sleep. The two of them had agreed the previous night to do this in the morning - but they'd had to wait for the other two to leave, so as to get some privacy.

"It's just a paper, right?" Xenovia said.

"It's nothing too complicated," Sasuke murmured. "But this will help me to understand the extent of your chakra levels." From a pouch on his thigh he withdrew a small pack of thin papers. After they had left the town where they had spent the night, Sasuke - once he'd gotten a moment to himself - had sent a shadow clone to double back and buy it from a store in the village.

"Okay. But _how_ does it help you to understand?" Xenovia asked. "I'm not suggesting that you're trying to hurt me or anything, Sasuke, but I'm… well I admit that I'm just a little curious."

Sasuke busied himself for a moment, ripping open the plastic and pulling a single paper out from within the package.

"In this world, there are five common elements that _every_ shinobi and kunoichi has at least one of," Sasuke explained, after a moment's pause in order to ensure that every word came out properly. "Fire, Water, Lightning, Earth, and Wind. There are no exceptions to this rule - some shinobi can have two, fewer can have three, but everyone has at least a single natural affinity with an element. My affinity is with Lightning."

"And what does this mean?"

"You're going to take the test that will tell you what element you have," Sasuke said. "I know for a fact that you _have_ chakra… but not to what extent. If the paper signifies that you have one of the five elements, then that means you have the capability to become a kunoichi. Which can mean a lot of things, but we won't dwell on that for now." Sasuke cleared his throat once more. "On the other hand, if the paper doesn't react at all, it means that you have the chakra system of a civilian. Which is something that can easily be explained as your bodies adapting to this new world in order to survive."

Xenovia bit her lip. "Which outcome would you prefer?" she asked. "Be honest with me, Sasuke."

He paused for a moment. "The far simpler option would be for all three of you to have a civilian's chakra system," Sasuke admitted. "But… there would be some problems that come from that."

"Like what?"

"You would be completely defenseless," Sasuke said. "Any ordinary genin can defeat a civilian, and regardless of what your three were in that other world, that's what you would be here for all intents and purposes. And that's not to mention how much more difficult it would be for you to find employment in Konoha - there's not exactly a lack of labor in the village, considering the refugees and such."

"Hmm." Xenovia hummed, tilting her head to the side thoughtfully. "I suppose there's no point in procrastinating about it," she said. "Let's just get on with the test."

"Alright," Sasuke said.

He handed her the chakra paper, and she clasped it in her fingers - despite the calm echoed on both of their features, Sasuke couldn't help but notice that the paper shook slightly in her hand.

"Close your eyes," he murmured. "And look within yourself - there's not much to calling up your chakra aside from natural intuition. You have to _feel_ it inside of you, and you have to will it to come to the surface."

Xenovia closed her eyes, just as she said. After a moment's pause, she could feel that force swirling inside of her - alien to the blue haired woman, yet strangely comforting in a sense. She could not see it, but she could almost _feel_ it's properties. It was a sweet, gentle blue, more airy than wind and more fluid than water.

Her face strained as she tried to 'will it to the surface'. It was a tough task… most genin had trouble with it, and this was her first time _ever_ trying it.

"All you need is the smallest bit," Sasuke whispered. "Just keep trying."

Sweat began to roll down her cheeks. She made these hoarse noises, but it almost _hurt_ to try and call upon her chakra; her system was underdeveloped, still growing the fine points that most people had attained by the age of ten.

But all she needed was a spark, and after a minute of trying she managed it.

Xenovia _felt_ the spark. Judging by Sasuke's intake of breath, something had to have happened - but she didn't dare open her eyes to find out.

She recoiled ever so slightly as she felt Sasuke's fingers brush against her own. But he was simply taking the paper from her hand, and after a moment, she unclenched her digits from around it and allowed him to take it.

The blue haired woman took a deep breath. Her heart was thudding against her chest, her ears - her face was red and sweat still continued to drip down her cheeks. This was it. Was she a civilian, or was she a kunoichi? _This_ was the moment that would decide how she would spend her time in Sasuke's world.

Xenovia opened her eyes.

Sasuke was staring at the sheet of chakra paper in his hand - which had crinkled.

"Well," Sasuke said, his voice low. "It looks like you're going to be a kunoichi after all, Xenovia."

"It… crinkled," Xenovia mumbled. "What does that mean?"

He swallowed. "If it's split in two, then you have Wind. If it dampens, you have Water. If it burns, Fire. If it crumbles into dust, Earth. And if it crinkles… then your affinity is with Lightning. Just like me."

Xenovia lowered her gaze. "That's… interesting," she said. "Are we to tell the others then?"

"Maybe," Sasuke said. She watched as the chakra paper in his hand suddenly burst into flames - within seconds the fire had eaten away at the crinkled paper, and the ashes drifted to the grass below. "We'll see if it's worth telling them about this development before we get to Konoha. But I will be the one to make that decision. For now… it would be best for us to both keep silent about this."

She nodded. "Alright," Xenovia murmured.

"Are you going to go and bathe with the others?" he asked.

"No… I… I think I'm going to go for a walk," she said. "I need to collect my thoughts." The implications were really grave - if they could so easily adapt to the rules and laws of this world, then would it be just as easy to swap back if they returned to their home? If they stayed here for too long… was it possible that they would be forever alien in their own home?

She had to think and to get some quiet. Later, they could tell Rias and Irina about it - but for now, Xenovia felt that solitude was the best answer to the turmoil in her brain. At least, for now.

Xenovia gave him the softest of smiles, before gently slipping into the woods. Even her distinctive blue hair disappeared from sight before long, her frame swallowed up by the greenery.

He sighed. _'Alright,'_ Sasuke thought. _'I'll wait fifteen minutes; then we'll see if they're finished bathing. And whether I can dry them off without giving them third degree burns…'_

Sasuke was a master of fire jutsu, but he'd never tried something as menial as drying someone and their clothes off with it… this would be a new experience. Still, he was confident he could manage it. Mostly confident.

Regardless of his confidence, he passed the time by practicing that new application of his fire techniques. To do that he simply walked up to a tree, and practicing blow a small stream of soft fire at it. At first he left scorch marks - but Sasuke was a quicker learner, and some refinement of the amount of chakra and technique he used soon allowed him to improve and perhaps even perfect the jutsu. It wasn't that complex of one, to be fair.

He formed a hand seal, and spat a bit of water into the grass at his feet. Sasuke crouched; a stream of fire soon blew from his mouth, yet the grass did not catch on fire… in fact, if one paid close attention they could see the water slowly begin to evaporate. Before long, the grass looked as if it hadn't been doused with liquid for days, though it was still a vibrant green.

"That should do," he murmured.

Sasuke stood, brushing off the front of his cloak. Ten minutes had passed; he waited five more, and then began his brief walk to the riverfront where Rias and Irina were… hopefully done.

He stopped just before the crystal blue water came into sight.

"Are you two done?" he called, cupping a hand around his mouth.

"Just about!" Irina shouted back. "Rias-san is just washing out her hair!"

Privately, Sasuke thanked whatever Gods there were that he hadn't been saddled with a trio of girls who would spend an hour bathing and dolling themselves up. The three of them weren't exactly ultariatiran, but he could work with them at the very least.

He tapped his foot on the ground. In the distance, he could hear the sounds of them getting out of the water. There was a brief pause, as they presumably pulled the cloaks around themselves in order to conceal the modesty - even if it wasn't entirely voluntary in Rias case.

Then- "Alright!" Irina called.

Sasuke stepped out. There they were, standing on the river bank with those great cloaks wrapped around them. It could only do so much, though… their damp frames had soaked through the cloak in places, and considering how tightly they wrapped the garments around them, he could see the swell of their curves with ease.

He pursed his lips together, taking a step toward their clothes, which had been neatly organized in the grass. Their shirt, their skirt, their undergarments and shoes… clearly they'd taken the time to dunk each of them in the river, washing them out thoroughly. It was no substitute for good old fashioned soap, but it would be apt to get rid of the worst of whatever grime had accumulated during their brief journey.

With calmness bereft of his anxieties about their potential powers, Sasuke went through the hand seals. He was supremely confident in his ability, and once the fire was being blown for his lips and the clothes _didn't_ catch fire, he knew that there was no problem with it.

Rias and Irina watched on, perhaps a tad marveled. It wasn't every day that you got to see a master at Fire jutsu at work after all, and watching him so skillfully wield those flames was a show in itself. Sasuke could be a one man circus act if he so chose, at least in their world.

It took only a moment for the clothes to dry. He tested the material with a finger, and found it to be fine.

"Alright," Sasuke said. "Time to… dry you two off as well."

Rias smiled in that calm way of hers. Irina chuckled, her neck red - it was embarrassing to be this (relatively) exposed in front of him, after all. She wasn't Rias when it came to brandishing her body.

Together, they turned their backs to them. With a flourish, Rias allowed her cloak to drop to the ground - Irina's hands shook, but she let hers fall a moment later. It was a transcendent sight… the curves that they possessed, the arc of their backs… and of course there was more, but Sasuke would never admit (even to himself) that his gaze had drifted 'lower' for a moment as well.

Apparently, Irina and Rias weren't just 'top-heavy' when it came to their looks. They exceled in other areas as well…

He shook his head, took a step forward, and formed the hand seals. Soon, a stream of fire spilled from his lips - it twisted and turned, circling around Rias and Irina's bodies like a serpent. The former let out a little giggle. "That tickles!" Rias said. Irina merely let out another nervous chuckle.

It didn't take quite as long to dry them off. Sasuke wasn't about to complain about that, because looking at two naked women's backs was one thing, _but_ , that line of thought also lead to… other images popping into his brain. Like the one when Rias had come out of that tent… or when…

He shook his head once again.

"There," Sasuke said, deactivating the jutsu and taking a few steps back, before turning around. "I'm going to head back to the campsite."

"Alright," Rias chirped. "See you in a few minutes, Sasuke!"

He heard the rustle of cloth as they pulled their clothes on behind him, and the sound of them exchanging idle chit chat. It faded away as he walked back into the woods. When he got back to the camp, it was deserted. Xenovia hadn't come back from her walk yet, that much was clear.

Sasuke heaved a sigh. It was best start to get their things together, Sasuke reasoned. They had to head out sooner or later. He unzipped his rucksack, and once again took inventory…

So close, Sasuke thought. Konoha was only a day or two away now, and it was about time.

They were walking, the sun high in the sky, clouds fluffy and white, the sky a startling blue. It had been a calm few days. Nothing really had happened since the day Sasuke had helped Xenovia to learn her chakra affinity - they hadn't even talked about it since then.

After all, he figured that he was going to be rid of them soon enough. He could pass on the information about their newly born chakra systems to Kakashi and Naruto, fill out a mission report of sorts detailing how he'd found them, then go do whatever he wanted until his rinnegan recharged. Then, all he had to do was send them back to the world they came from. It was that simple.

Well… not really. But Sasuke _thought_ it was that simple, and to him that was all that mattered.

There was a tap on his shoulder. Sasuke glanced to the right, crimson filling his vision - then, Rias's glittering eyes were looking at him.

"Can I get your help with something, Sasuke?" she asked. "I was going to ask Irina-san, but I don't want to worry her…"

He looked back. Irina and Xenovia seemed to be having a conversation about one thing or another, unaware of Rias talking to him.

"What is it?" Sasuke murmured.

"Do you have a piece of paper and a pen? I'd like to… um… try something."

He reached a hand into his pouch, fishing out a pen; a sheet of paper was withdrawn from his rucksack, and he gave them both to her. She used a novel he had lent her to read while she was on guard duty as a writing stand, quickly scribbling down a sentence.

"Okay," Rias said, voice a tad nervous. "What does this say?"

He looked at the paper.

' _Can you read him?'_

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Who am I supposed to be reading?" he said. "Unless I'm mistaken, I'm the only man around here."

Rias blinked. "What does it say?"

"'Can you read him?'." Sasuke told her.

The redhead swore under her breath. "Argh!" she groaned. "That's- that's not what I meant. I was trying to write 'Can you read this?'!"

"That would have made more sense," Sasuke noted. "Are you having trouble with your vocabulary?"

"A little," she confessed. "You see, I- well… of course, I don't remember the details. But I _think_ that I must have had something helping me to talk and write in Japanese in the other world; from what I can tell, I don't think I ever received a formal education in it. And now that I have to do everything from memory, it's a little more difficult."

"I can understand your speech for the most part," Sasuke said.

"I seem to be fine conversationally," Rias mumbled. "But it's just… longer words. Specific details, mostly. And I think it's my writing that has suffered the most. It's not that serious, but it does irritate me a little."

"I see." He took the pen as she handed it back to him, slipping it back into his pouch. "Well, I'm sure they can give you some textbooks in Konoha that will help you to brush up on your knowledge. At the very least it will hold you over until you can go home."

Rias smiled. "Thank you, Sasuke," she said. "How are you, by the way? I can't imagine traveling with us is the most enjoyable thing. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you do seem to be a solitary person."

"You're not wrong," Sasuke admitted. "But I can't lie and say that I _abhor_ being on the road with you three. At most it's a little irritating, but at best you provide me with… brief moments of amusement."

She chuckled. "How flattering to know that out of _everything_ , amusement is the most prominent. I think most men would be content with the eye candy at the very least… I won't go so far as to call myself experienced in that line of thinking, but I'm not naive by any means."

"I never assumed that you were," Sasuke said. And he left it at that.

Rias was not foolish enough to miss the fact that he blatantly ignored her comment about 'eye candy'. One of her eyebrows quirked upward - maybe Sasuke wasn't quite as stoic in that manner as he tried to portray himself. How… cute.

She grinned. "Are you looking forward to returning home?" Rias asked.

"I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to it," he said. "But I'm not dreading it, if that's what your asking."

"I see. Still, it should be nice - to see old friends, to talk to your family, to enjoy some relaxation."

He didn't even blink at the word 'family'. In fact, he showed no reaction - no external reaction, at least.

"Sure."

And the conversation seemed to be over. Rias drifted backward, hopping into Irina and Xenovia's conversation without a second thought. Sasuke continued to walk ahead of them, his gaze seemingly placid.

Just a little longer, Sasuke thought. A little longer, and he could return to that welcoming solitude.

It was a pity that he had no idea what fate had in store for him.

* * *

 **And that's a wrap for this chapter. The next one will of course feature the return to Konoha - and after that, we'll see how things get to the point of the first chapter's first scene.**

 **As always, I'll be glad to receive any feedback that I can in the form of reviews. You don't even need a fanfiction account to leave one, so why not? Anything is appreciated and welcome.**

 **If you'd like to contact me, you can reach me on the website by private messaging me. Alternatively, you can join a discord that I'm a part of, the invite code is: JUDUqRD.**

 **Thank you for reading. And until next time, have an awesome life!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I... well, I took a break. Well, sort of; I really did try to write my stories, but the words just didn't come to me. Until today, because the words just clicked and a decidedly large chapter of this story decided to make a greeting. I hope you guys enjoy it. Don't forget to leave a review, to favorite and follow the story, and to ask any questions you want to be answered.**

* * *

"Are you an idiot, Sasuke?"

Sasuke glared at the two people in front of him — one standing, the other seated in a chair behind his desk.

"What makes you say that?" Sasuke murmured.

"I-"

Uzumaki Naruto palmed his forehead, rubbing it gently.

"How do you manage this?" Naruto said. "You don't even _try_ to do this kind of crap, and yet, you walk into the village two whole years later with not one, not two, but _three_ girls trailing behind you!"

"What?" Sasuke grumbled, scoffing. "If you're assuming that something happened between me and the three of them, you're sorely mistaken."

"That's not the point," Kakashi said, exasperated. "Your report is more than worrying, Sasuke. You say that they come from a another world, a place where _everything_ seems to be radically different from our own. Not just that, but they have no memories of this world, so we have no idea what sort of person they are without the amnesia. And, on top of that, they seem to be developing chakra networks… which is a worrying thing, especially when you yourself attested to the fact that they had no chakra when they first arrived."

"And?"

"What'd you mean 'and'?" Naruto snapped. "You're the one who decided to dump this on us! You better have a solution or-"

"Well, I think I'll go ahead and take my leave," Sasuke said, standing up. "You two can handle it from here."

"Oh, oh no, _no you don't!"_ Naruto bellowed.

"Sasuke, sit back down," Kakashi said.

The Uchiha in question let out a sigh. With some reluctance, he fell back into his chair, hands resting on the sides. The office of the Hokage was the same as ever — plush and immaculate, having the glittering appearance as if a team of maids had gone over every inch of it before he'd come in.

It was going on six hours since he had arrived back in the village. One to get through the village and to the office, which was a chore with the three girls wanting to go into every other shop — two hours of Naruto alternating between yelling at him and hugging him. Another, where he sat and did quite literally _nothing_. An hour and a half writing up a report; then, half an hour to reach this point.

God, he hated bureaucracy.

"What do you need me here for?" Sasuke said, exasperation obvious. "I've done my part — I see no reason to not allow me to go back on my journey."

"He's such an idiot," Naruto murmured to Kakashi.

"Now now, let's not resort to insults," Kakashi said. "Sasuke, I want you to _really_ think about these three women you've brought in. I suppose I'll have to spell it out for you: they are in a hostile world, with no friends or family to speak of. They don't remember anything about their homes; and every single thing we find normal such as chakra or our culture seems to be an incredibly foreign thing to them. But, on top of that, they seem to be… untrusting."

"Untrusting?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, it's only natural. I doubt you thought we would intern them, but it _is_ standard protocol — we questioned them for a little while, but all of the reports from my officers say that they're nothing short of unwilling to cooperate with us. I even sent Naruto in there, but he couldn't get much except their names, which we already knew because of you."

"What are you trying to say, Kakashi? Get to the point, already." Sasuke murmured.

"You were right. He _is_ an idiot."

"I swear to God…"

"Okay, Sasuke, here's the truth: _you are the only one that those three trust_." Naruto inhaled. "You are the only one they will speak to willingly; every time me or anyone else walk in there, they ask about you and whether we've done anything to you for bringing them there. It's — it's like they're a bunch of baby ducks, and you're their mother. You are the only person they know in this world; in a way, they've imprinted onto you, Sasuke. You can't just leave them here until your Rinnegan is fired up and ready to send them home. To do that and leave them here, alone, would be something borderline torturous. Do you understand, Sasuke?"

Sasuke stared at him for a good moment, blinking every few seconds. It was as if he was expecting Naruto's serious look to morph into a grin, for Kakashi to award him to chuckle, for both of them to simply say they were joking and that he could go back onto the road and enjoy blissful solitude once more.

Unfortunately for the last of the Uchiha, such a miracle was not forthcoming. Naruto and Kakashi did not back down.

"Oh, for God's sake…"

Sasuke rubbed his forehead, and couldn't help the scowl that found its way across his features.

It was to be expected. He had been the first face they'd seen in this new world — and while he wouldn't go as far as to say that he'd been _friendly_ , he had been curiously accommodating toward the three women. He held the key to them going home; he'd bonded with them, in some strange ways and some typical ways. They'd even slept in the same bed together, though it had been more an act of spontaneity than anything else.

Great — he'd wanted to avoid a scenario like this if preferably. Having to deal with three home sick girls, with newly developed chakra systems, and on top of that a number of eccentricities… well, it wasn't something he was keen on doing.

But it was clear that Kakashi and Naruto were delivering an ultimatum — and if one person could convince Sasuke to do something, it was Uzumaki Naruto.

He would… have to be a caretaker, it seemed. And that was whether he liked it or not.

"You're not going to put up a fight, then?" Naruto murmured.

"No," Sasuke said. "It's only for a few weeks at most. Once my Rinnegan is back, I'll send them on their way and then I'll be back on mine." He took a deep breath. "Where will they be living?"

"You can talk with them about that," Kakashi told him.

"Alright." the Uchiha murmured. "Where are they, then?"

"In the interrogation rooms."

"You took them prisoner?"

"Well…" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. "I wasn't comfortable with it, but Kakashi-sensei _did_ put together a decent rationale for it. We trust you, Sasuke, but there is a chance they had some hidden power or seal on them that could deceive you."

"And?"

"We didn't find anything." Naruto grinned. "Actually, all we ended up doing was spooking them a little… or a lot. _Apparently_ , tossing people into a room meant for top-security prisoners doesn't bode well."

"We had to be sure," Kakashi insisted. "Three people from a foreign world completely and totally unknown to us? As Hokage, the security of the village takes precedence over common decency."

Naruto muttered something under his breath, and Sasuke sighed.

"Let them know I'm coming," Sasuke said, rising to his feet. "Are they all in the same room?"

"They are," Kakashi informed him.

"Alright." Sasuke dusted off the front of his cloak, running a hand through his hair. "I suppose I'll talk to you later, once I've discussed the living arrangements and such with those three."

Naruto grinned at him. "So…"

"We can go to Ichiraku's first thing in the morning."

"Awesome!" Naruto chirped. "Catch ya later, Sasuke," he said, clapping his friend on the shoulder.

"Mmm hmm."

Sasuke formed a hand seal, and disappeared in a flicker. The shunshin no jutsu propelled him swiftly out of the office and into the village proper.

Kakashi and Naruto let out a sigh in unison.

"What an idiot…" Naruto murmured.

Kakashi shook his head slightly. "Yup…" he muttered.

* * *

"So… any family? Brothers? Sisters? Children?"

Rias crossed her legs beneath the table, and maintained a demeanor of calm apathy.

Irina squeezed her knees, bit her lip, and said nothing.

Xenovia scoffed, folded her arms beneath her bosom, and refused to look any of them in the eye.

The interrogator sighed, scribbling something in a notepad. Three hours of talking to them, an hour of processing them, and two hours of looking up their histories — and zilch. Nothing. It was as if these girls had appeared out of thin air; not that someone like him would know the _truth_ behind the matter.

"To be fair," Rias said at long last. "That _is_ the sixth time you've asked that question. Were you expecting a different answer?"

"Not really," the interrogator murmured.

"May I get a glass of water?" Irina asked.

"Another one?"

"It is stuffy in here," Xenovia commented. "Does your culture not believe in air conditioning?"

The interrogator stared at her blankly for a moment.

"I'll… go get your water," he said, turning and making his way out of the room. Once the door was closed, the three of them let out a sigh of relief.

"Where you do you guys think Sasuke is?" Irina wondered out loud, kicking her legs freely beneath the table.

Xenovia scoffed. "Who knows?" she muttered. "He's probably living it up while we're stuck in this room. In fact, he's probably the reason we're _in_ here…"

"Oh, hush, Xenovia," Rias said. "You know you don't mean that."

The blue haired woman looked away, and refused to answer that accusation. Rias allowed a smile to curl her lips; she turned to Irina.

"Did you really need water?" Rias asked.

Irina smiled. "I thought we could all use a break from that guy," she murmured. "He's a little pushy, isn't he?"

"He _is_ interrogating us," Rias pointed out. "I would not fault a man for simply doing his duty."

"Doesn't make him any less irritating," Xenovia grumbled.

The redhead shrugged, and for a moment — _just_ a moment — the room lapsed into silence.

"You know, I will admit one thing," Xenovia said. "Wherever Sasuke is… he'd better get here soon. I'm tired of waiting."

All three of them could only agree with that sentiment. In the time since they'd arrived in this world, they had not spent so much time apart from Sasuke — he had been there for them. He was the only person aside from themselves that they could remember. The person who had protected them in this foreign world… their friend.

It was only natural that they'd be worried for him — that they'd want to see him.

Right?

The door opened, and the man stepped back inside of the room, a cup of water in hand.

"Alright," he said, having given the water to Irina. ""So… any family? Brothers? Sisters? Children…?"

* * *

The interrogation rooms weren't buried under six tons of dirt or anything like that — in fact, they were just down the street from the Hokage's tower; in the heart of Konoha, with miles of village on all sides and solid steel walls framing and supporting the prison, there really was no reason to do something as extravagant (and expensive) as putting it below the earth.

Two ANBU stood guard outside of the prison at all time; it seemed that Kakashi had listened to Sasuke, because they didn't even blink as the last of the Uchiha swept past them and into the prison.

There was a man seated behind a desk. "How can I help you?" he asked Sasuke.

"I'm here to visit three women that have been detained," Sasuke murmured, stepping up to the desk, his eyes calculating. "Their names will be Xenovia, Rias, and Irina. I believe the Hokage has sent forth confirmation that I am allowed to see them."

The man swallowed; for it was suddenly evident who he was in the presence of. "U-uh… yes, yes of course," the man stammered out, picking up a piece of paper beside a fax machine. "The Hokage sent the memo over just a f-few moments ago. Sign here and you can go right in." He handed Sasuke a pen, and slid said piece of paper in front of the Uchiha.

Sasuke put his signature down on the paper; when he handed the pen back, the man carefully pinched it between two fingers as if it were contaminated.

"Y-you c-can go on in, Uchiha-san-" He swallowed, pointing to a hall on his left. "U-Uchiha-sama."

He allowed the corner of his lip to quirk upward. "Try not to let yourself feel intimidated," Sasuke murmured to the man. "If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it before you even knew I was here."

God, he did enjoy toying with people like that — the way the man turned _ghost_ white as Sasuke turned and began this journey through the prison was… priceless. A small price to pay in reputation, but it wasn't as if Sasuke was trying to win any hearts.

The man stuttered out something quite literally incoherent, before simply retreating, pushing his chair so far back that his head bumped into the wall. Sasuke gave the man the ghost of a wink, before sweeping down the hall that the man had pointed him to.

It was fairly quiet. There were a number of cells in the first hall, with healthy looking prisoners put into each one three a piece — drunkards, petty thieves, those held in preparation for a trial. The dangerous people were always put in more suitable accommodations; Kakashi had been worried about the three girls, but he'd been smart enough to not send them to where the worst of the worst was interrogated and imprisoned.

He asked for directions to their exact location from a guard, and he was given it. And soon, within five minutes of entering, Sasuke stood right outside the door. He paused in pulling the handle — he stared at the door, though there was no window that would allow him to see them.

' _Let's just get this over with,'_ he decided, twisting the handle and stepping inside.

The way their faces lit up, you would have thought that they were Christians witnessing Jesus step inside the room. Rias's lips curled up in a wide smile; Irina grinned from ear to ear; even Xenovia couldn't stop herself from smiling at him.

"Sasuke!" Irina said, standing up in her chair. "It's about time! What's going on?"

He looked between the three of them, eyes scrutinizingly closely — inspecting them to ensure that no physical harm had befallen them. It seemed that he found nothing; which was a relief, because Sasuke had promised them time and time again that they would be well treated. And nowadays, Sasuke made sure he kept to his word.

"I'm going to be arranging your living arrangements for the next few weeks," Sasuke said, after a moment's pause. "There's a few options. I could get you each separate hotel rooms; you could each share an apartment…"

"... or we could live with you?" Rias suggested.

He blinked.

At first, he was ready to retort with a firm 'No', but the way Xenovia and Irina's eyes lit up was… strange. And he decided to go with a more muted response in the end.

"I'm not exactly sure about that…" he murmured.

"Well, we'd be able to help you around the house," Irina said. "Y'know, washing dishes and keeping the place tidy."

"Not to mention it would be much easier to keep an eye on us," Xenovia pointed out. "Isn't that the entire reason your people are so worried? If we live under the same roof as you, I'm sure they won't be anywhere near as worried."

"Plus it would be fun!" Rias chirped. "I'd love for you to show us how people of this world live their day to day lives."

"And we'd undoubtedly be safe with you, Sasuke," Irina murmured.

Sasuke looked between the three of them, an unreadable look in his eyes.

"I'll have to think about it," he said.

"Sure." Rias leaned forward slightly, a twinkle in her eyes. "So, are getting out of here yet?"

"It won't be too long now," Sasuke told them. "They still have to process you, I think. Make sure you get put into the records; they'll probably give you an identity card and such, and maybe even temporary citizenship until you go back to your world. Until then, you're more or less aliens in the village, and there's not much I can do to get you out of here."

"How long will all of that take?" Xenovia questioned.

"You shouldn't have to spend the night," Sasuke said. "As for your living arrangements… we'll see. I suppose you three can stay at my apartment for tonight, and we'll see where you three can live afterward."

"Sounds good," Rias murmured. "Are you going then?"

"Mhm." Sasuke turned his back to them. "There's a few things I need to do. Until then, just stay here — you don't have to be cooperative, but just make sure you don't make things worse on yourselves. Alright?"

"Alright," the three choursed back at him.

He stepped out of the room.

When he got back to the entrance lobby, an ANBU flagged him down. "A message from the Hokage," the gruff man said, pressing a scroll and a small key into his hand. Sasuke said nothing; a moment later, the ANBU vanished.

He examined the key for a moment, before unraveling the scroll — it was a short message, very much to the point.

' _Me and Naruto are at your apartment. Once you're done with the girls, come here and fill us in on what you want to do.'_

The key, presumably, was to the apartment; he'd handed it in before he had left the village after the war.

Sasuke frowned.

It wasn't a long trip to his apartment. The air was warm, the sun out — he couldn't help but languish in the tranquil feeling that filled the village.

The key worked — he twisted it in the lock, and threw open the door. All of the lights were on, and a jovial atmosphere filled his apartment from end to end; of course, that was the type of atmosphere that Naruto brought _anywhere_ he went.

Sasuke stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

"Hey, Sasuke," Kakashi said, giving him a wave from his position sprawled out on the couch, a green book clasped in his other hand. "How did it go?"

"How did what go?"

"Well, you know. It might be a good thing for me to know whether those three girls are going to seek retribution for locking them up for a little bit," Kakashi drawled.

"Not to mention we still need to figure out where they're going to live…!" Naruto said, coming out of Sasuke's bedroom with a feather duster in hand — there weren't many men that could still look masculine with one of those clutched in their fingers.

"Well, _I'm_ not sure where they should live," Sasuke muttered. "They seem to have an… interesting idea, to say the least."

Naruto and Kakashi exchanged a quick glance. "Well?" Naruto said, hands folded across his chest. "Spill it then, Sasuke."

Sasuke scowled.

"Well, they 'suggested' that they could live with me," the Uchiha murmured.

"Live with you? Like, in your apartment?" Naruto said.

"Exactly. I can't believe they thought that I would-"

"That's a good idea," Kakashi admitted. "It would be much easier for you to keep an eye on them — I would be a lot less worried about what kind of problems they can cause if you live under the same roof as them. I mean, it's not an _ideal_ scenario, but it would save me the trouble of assigning a team of ANBU to watch them until your rinnegan is recharged."

Sasuke blatantly _stared_ at Kakashi for a good minute or two.

Really, he hadn't expected an answer more than 'That's crazy, you're not going to live with them!'. And that would be that. But no, Kakashi had… _agreed_ with it. He'd even parroted the same exact reasons Xenovia had stated as to why it would be a good idea for them to work together.

In one last attempt of desperation, Sasuke directed his gaze to Naruto — his one and last hope in this situation. But, to his dismay, the blonde was grinning from ear to ear.

"Yeah, what Kakashi-sensei said!" Naruto chirped. "Not to mention that you _need_ some forced social interaction in your life. I can't be around you all the time to make sure you don't regress; truthfully, I think just keeping up with those three girls will keep you on your toes and more importantly on our side."

"You don't trust me?"

"I mean, it's not that I don't trust you," Naruto told him. "But you're kind of an unpredictable guy, Sasuke, and I'd rather have a more consistent way of keeping you in check past kicking you in the teeth every now and then."

"You're calling _me_ unpredictable?" Sasuke retorted. "Don't be a hypocrite."

"Hypocrisy is fun!" Naruto said, grinning.

His nostrils flared slightly.

The young Uchiha was quiet for a moment, lips pursed together, his expression unreadable by even Naruto.

"Do I really _have_ to let them live with me?" he murmured, tone hushed.

Kakashi and Naruto, once again, exchanged a glance.

"Well…" Naruto began. "If you really don't want to do it, Sasuke, we're not going to force you to do it. In the end, it's your choice; I'm just telling you what _I_ think's best, and that's for those three girls to stay with you. And if they want to stay with you, and if Kakashi-sensei says its a good idea for them to stay with you… well, I mean, if that many people are telling you to do it…" He drifted off.

"Just because quite a few people are telling me to do something doesn't mean I should do it," Sasuke said quietly.

"Mhm. But when it's your best friend? Your sensei? Three girls that have no reason to lie or decieve you? I mean, come on, man. What's the harm?"

Kakashi remained silent, his eyes carefully trained on Sasuke; remaining quiet was probably the best option — he didn't want to upset the magical properties of Naruto's persuasive nature.

His former student was still quiet, and he _still_ had that unreadable look upon his features… but slowly, the Rokudaime Hokage could tell that Sasuke had been swayed.

"Fine," Sasuke growled. "I suppose I could… give it a try. But you'd better have an apartment ready for them when I kick them out," he said to Kakashi.

"Not 'if' you kick them out?" Kakashi said. "Don't be so hasty, Sasuke. Who knows… they may very well grow on you before long."

"Unlikely."

Naruto smirked — an odd look for the blonde, but if Naruto was the only person to make Sasuke _smile_ then Sasuke was the only person to make Naruto _smirk_.

"Well, we should get finished sweeping this place," the blonde murmured. "Get it nice and cleaned for when the girls arrive."

"You're the one with the shadow clones," Sasuke said darkly.

"True," Naruto admitted. "But you're still gonna help. How about _you_ tackle your bedroom while me and my shadow clones will clean everything else? That sound fair?"

"Fine."

"And Kakashi-sensei… uh… how about you-"

"I'll be here," Kakashi said, from behind his book. "Giving… motivational speeches and such; you know me. I'll be inspiring you two the whole time."

Naruto glowered at the silver haired man. "Hey! If the two of us are working, you'd better be working too!"

"I _am_ working," he retorted. "If you forget, this is a shadow clone. The real me is off slaving away at the office," Kakashi muttered.

The blonde blinked. "Really?"

"Or, the shadow clone could be in the office and the real me could be me. Who knows?" Kakashi shrugged. "You'd better get started — I took the liberty of greasing the wheels on all that paperwork, so those three are going to be released into Sasuke's custody relatively soon. Tomorrow morning at the latest."

Sasuke had already disappeared into his room to clean; with one last _dirty_ look shot at Kakashi, Naruto formed a hand seal, and two dozen clones popped into existence around him.

"Let's get to work!"

* * *

With quite a bit of luck and a helping hand from Kakashi, the three girls fortunately did not have to spend their night in the prison.

They could tell it was late as they went took the last few steps in the process of their release. There was nothing but inky black outside of the windows; the guards had changed shifts; not to mention the clock on the wall that told them it was half past nine.

"Who still uses analog clocks?" Irina murmured under breath in an innuncous way. "I thought everyone had switched to digital by now."

"To what?" one of the guards said.

"Uh-"

"Keep it moving," Xenovia muttered to Irina. "No time for chit-chat — we're almost out of here."

"Oh, right. Sorry," Irina said apologetically

They had to get their pictures taken, and then, the last step was filling out a form on their medical history and their biological and physical characteristics. A doctor told them that their temporary identity cards would be sent in the morning.

After that… they were free to go.

Rias was the first to finish her form, and she waited for them by the door. Irina was second; Xenovia third.

"Feels good to get the blood moving again," Xenovia said, flexing her biceps. "Being cooped up in a room like that is not fun."

"Especially after we spent all that time walking," Irina chimed in. "I swear, I think all that exercise on the way here made me lose five kilos!"

"I think building up a routine like that could be interesting," Rias added. "There's nothing wrong with a daily walk. It doesn't even have to be for the purpose of exercise — I found it to be _very_ cathartic when we were traveling with Sasuke."

"That's true," Xenovia admitted.

And, speaking of which…

Rias opened the door — Xenovia and Irina stepped through, followed by the redheaded beauty. And, waiting for them in the lobby of the building, was Sasuke.

He looked particularly surly, draped in those dark clothes of his with a blank expression marring his otherwise pretty features. The way he stood — straight-backed, rigid, legs spread in a pose familiar to any shinobi — suggested that he could have flung himself straight into battle at a second's notice.

Sasuke looked in their direction and gave them a once over.

"Do you have everything?" he asked.

"It's not like we have that much," Rias commented. "Just the clothes on our back and these cloaks you bought us." Which, he noticed, all three of them still wore — they were heavy, thick cloaks, the type that could make a woman like Rias look flat-chested.

"Hm."

"What?"

"The cloaks. Why did the three of you keep them on the entire time?"

They exchanged glances with each other.

A frigid air rose around them — no, not frigid.

Worried. Anxious.

And, perhaps, a little fear was to be added to that tepid combination.

There was a lesson to be learned: you could not dump three women into a pseudo prison cell and not expect them to expect the worst case scenario.

"Well, you know how men are," Xenovia murmured. "We didn't want to inspire any… _ideas_ by taking off our cloaks. Not to mention we didn't know what on Earth they were going to do to us before you came and filled us in. Can you blame us for being careful?"

No, he couldn't. Rape was a weapon to some men and considering Xenovia, Rias, and Irina had all been dumped into a foreign village and separated from the only person they were familiar with aside from each other… well, for all they knew, Sasuke had been imprisoned for bringing them they; that, or he could have been deceiving them or any number of things…

"A-and it was cold in there, too!" Irina said quickly, clearly so Sasuke would not worry. "I mean, look at us!"

A bead of sweat dripped down her forehead, and it wasn't from nervousness.

"Hm."

He turned his back to them, and they shrunk a little at the _aura_ he let off. It was equal parts comforting and intimidating.

"Let's go," Sasuke murmured. "I see no reason to delay going to my apartment any longer."

Xenovia swallowed what felt like a hot ball of lead that had settled in her throat. "So, we'll be living with you, then?" she asked — it was hard to disguise how _shaky_ her tone seemed.

"Yes."

He did not elaborate.

Sasuke walked out of the prison building and like sheep they trailed after him. A light rain had begun to fall — with clumsy fingers, the three girls tugged their hoods over their heads. Sasuke did not.

He lead them through the streets, walking through puddles of water that the girls tiptoed around. The rain continued to fall, gradually intensifying until it became a moderate shower.

Rias caught up to Sasuke after a moment — she hesitated for the slightest of moments… then, she reached forward and grasped his shoulder. "Sasuke?" she said.

He jerked his shoulder away from her, a dark look in his eyes. "What?" he said, his hand having flashed down to the hilt of his sword for just a moment.

"Are you alright?" she asked. Irina and Xenovia stopped beside her, and all of them bore worried looks.

Sasuke sucked in a gentle breath.

"I was thinking…" he muttered, hand twitching at his side.

"About what?" Xenovia asked, after a moment.

"About what I would have done if anything like _that_ had happened to you three," Sasuke murmured.

Irina pursed her lips together. "We were just worried, Sasuke. And scared. And totally overreacting! Like, we didn't think there was any real risk of us being- being… y-you know…"

Sasuke exhaled. "I know they wouldn't," he said. "They're good people here in Konohagakure. A lot would have to change for something like that to happen here. But… if it _had_ happened…" He looked at them, and that comforting-yet-intimidating aura was surrounding him once again. "I would have killed each and every man that laid a finger on _any_ of you."

The resoluteness in his voice; the absolute sureness of the promise.

"Tha- thank you," Rias said, after a moment. "It's flattering that you… you care so much, Sasuke."

"Hmph." He turned his back to them once again. "I brought you into this world, and I'd sooner spit on my clan's emblem then allow any harm to befall the three of you. Call it honor, call it stupidity, call it 'caring' for you… whatever. Let's just get going; my apartment is just up the street."

"Okay," Rias said softly. The other two girls nodded, and just like that, they continued their journey to Sasuke's home.

He twisted the key in the lock, and threw open the door. Sasuke stepped into the depths of his apartment, casually reaching a hand to the side and flicking on the living room's light.

It was spotless — the floors shining, not a hint of dust to be found anywhere. Naruto's clones had done a fine job indeed; the blonde had went off to be with his girlfriend and Kakashi's shadow clone had dispelled.

Xenovia whistled. "Not bad," she said, glancing around, hands on her hips. "This is a nice place you have here, Sasuke."

"Thanks."

He shrugged off his cloak, carefully hanging it up on a hook by the door. Rias, Xenovia, and Irina followed suit — they peeled off their cloaks, simply piling them on top of the same hook.

Sasuke frowned at their appearance; their clothes were plastered to their bodies, wet spots in places from sweat. And now that they were out of the rain, and in the light of his apartment, Sasuke could see their sweat-slick and grimy hair as well.

"I thought it was cold in that room?" Sasuke said dismissively.

Irina flushed.

"I think we could use a shower." Xenovia stepped in, obviously to spare her friend any further embarrassment. "I trust you have a bathroom?"

"Of course." Sasuke's ears turned a slight shade of pink. "And… well, we'll have to go and get the three of you some clothes tomorrow. Until then, I'll have to wash the set of clothes you have now — there's a proper washer downstairs that I can use."

"What do you suggest we do?" Rias asked.

"Well… the solution is simple. All you'll have to do is go into my room. I'll close the door to afford you three some privacy; you can strip down, go into the bathroom together for a moment, and I'll collect your clothes. Then, the three of you can get in the shower one after the other — by the time all of you are done the clothes should have at least been washed, and I can dry them on my own."

"Alright," Xenovia said. "That sounds good to me." Irina and Rias nodded.

"My room's right there," Sasuke said, pointing a finger at a closed door.

They funneled into his room. He stood a good distance away from the door, waiting, waiting, until finally Rias gave him a call from the bathroom. He walked into his bathroom — and swallowed.

All of their clothes, piled up on the bed: skirts, shirts, undergarments. He wasn't a lecherous man but there was a certain something that went with handling the lacy blue panties that Rias had been wearing a moment before… he did it quickly, before any thoughts occurred to his brain.

He piled them all into a basket he founded tucked away in a closet. And, after a moment of deliberation, he covered the contents with a blanket… he certainly didn't want anyone to see that he was transporting and then washing a bunch of women's clothing.

Tucking the basket beneath his arm, Sasuke made for the door. In the doorframe, he turned, and called — "I've got the clothes." — before stepping out of the bedroom and closing the door behind him.

Rias and Xenovia breathed a sigh of relief as they tiptoed out of the bathroom, towels wrapped around their voluptuous figures. Irina had asked to be the first to shower — and they were happy to let her.

"Jeez. He was a little fearsome back there, wasn't he?" Rias murmured under her breath, gently sitting down on the bed. She'd wet her hair with water from the sink, and it fell into her face, liquid dripping onto the floor in front of her.

"Fearsome? I think _terrifying_ would be a better word." Xenovia swallowed, brushing a curl of blue hair out of her eye as she sat down beside Rias. "I didn't think he would react so… strongly."

"We _are_ in his care," Rias said. "And he _is_ the reason we're here — I imagine he feels responsible for us in a way. If anything like that were to happen to us… well, I imagine anybody would feel guilty if they were in Sasuke's position. Still… the conviction in his voice; you and I both know that there's no chance he wouldn't follow through on his promise."

"Yeah."

The shower flickered to life in the other room — soon, they could hear Irina humming and singing beneath the spray of water.

"Still. It's weird to think that he was… concerned for us."

"I don't think he was concerned," Rias said.

"What?"

"Well…" Rias swallowed. "I don't he thinks he _needs_ to be concerned. Because…"

She looked at Xenovia, a serious gaze in her eyes.

"... I'm sure he thinks that anyone foolish enough to mess with us… is already dead. Or, at least, they will be. I don't think he's the type to make those threats and not mean them."

"Yeah…" Xenovia whispered. A slight shudder went down her spine. "I'm glad just he _likes_ , or at least tolerates us."

"Mhm."

The room lapsed into silence after that, aside from the sounds of the shower.

* * *

He simply waited in the laundry room, leaned against the wall, hands folded across his chest and a drab look about him as he stared at the washer he'd put the girls' clothes — it rocked back and forth, from side to side, the sound of the machine chugging away strangely soothing.

It was odd. He, Uchiha Sasuke — killer of of numerous S-class ninja, hero or bane of the world depending on who you asked, legendary shinobi… sitting in the basement of an apartment complex, waiting for his clothes to finish washing.

Then again, he had literally seen the hero of the world, child of prophecy, the future Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto… cleaning up his apartment with a feather duster earlier.

' _I think these times of peace are just making the world stranger and stranger,'_ Sasuke thought, shaking his head.

People came and went, depositing their own clothes into washer or picking them up from driers. Few glanced in his direction, and none gave him a second look.

The machines lulled him into something resembling a day dream.

' _Sasuke, how are you feeling?'_

 _He looked up._

" _I'm fine," Sasuke said. "Just… tired."_

" _Of what?"_

" _It's been a long few days."_

 _Xenovia, Rias, and Irina were all crowded around him. All of them were wearing beautiful dresses, Rias in blue, Xenovia in green, Irina in red — they looked absolutely stunning. Sasuke himself was clad in rather casual clothes, though he looked no worse than any of them._

" _Oh, it has," Xenovia said. She was looking at something on her finger affectionately, though Sasuke couldn't see it._

" _Yeah…" Irina murmured dreamily. She, as well, was looking at something on her finger._

 _Sasuke… smiled._

 _He laid his head back, and drifted off to sleep._

"Sir?"

Sasuke shook his head.

There was a woman in front of him — small, meek, at least a foot smaller than him, two baskets tucked underneath her arms.

"U-um… you're blocking the last open washer," she whispered.

Sasuke said nothing — he merely took a step to the side.

He didn't even think about the day dream he'd had.

Because that was it. Just a daydream.

He'd even had something similar to that about Sakura before; and Karin. It hadn't registered to him — in his mind, marriage was a necessary obstacle to be met before he could restore his clan.

There was only _one_ thing that the day dream meant.

That, somewhere in Sasuke's subconscious, the three girls had wormed their way into becoming candidates for the illustrious title of Mrs. Uchiha… not that he, or they, were consciously aware of it.

After all, a long journey still awaited them before they even came _close_ to that possibility.

* * *

The basket nestled beneath his arm, Sasuke made his way back up to the apartment. A careful application of his jutsu — the same he'd used back on the river bank — had allowed him to skip using the dryer, as all the clothes had been perfectly dried by his honed fire techniques. He passed a few people on the way there; one of whom recognized him, though he didn't recognize them in return. All he'd gotten was a glare for his troubles — because Sasuke wouldn't allow some _commoner_ to sneer at him for doing laundry.

Of course, he still had the blanket concealing the true contents of the basket…

For the third time that day, he twisted the key into the lock. The lights were still on; but for a moment, he paused to listen, and heard that the shower was off. It seemed that they were done.

Sasuke closed the front door behind him, then walked up to his bedroom door. "Are you done?" he called through the wood.

"Yeah!" Rias called.

"I'm leaving the basket just outside the door," he said. "I'll be in the kitchen making myself something to eat. Do the three of you need anything?"

"They gave us food at the prison," Rias said. "It… wasn't good food. But it was filling nonetheless."

"Alright."

He dropped the basket down, then walked into the kitchen — purposefully, he went out of his way to alter his routine of preparing tea in order to put his back toward the bedroom door. That way, when Rias opened it to grab the basket and duck back inside of the bedroom, he saw nothing.

Sasuke was quickly learning that he could _not_ trust himself in such close proximity with three beautiful women. _Just_ Sakura, or _just_ Karin had been one thing… but three at once and all the time was another beast entirely.

It was a challenge unlike anything he'd faced before. Well, in a non-combat sense.

He took a deep breath. Soon, they came out of his room, clad in their freshly washed clothes, skin glowing, hair wet. They beamed at him.

"So, where are we sleeping?" Irina asked.

"I only have a single bed," Sasuke said. "So, I suppose you three can sleep on there, and I'll take the couch. If… this arrangement works, then we'll see about getting another bed or two."

"What? Why would you sleep on the couch in your own house?" Xenovia said. "Listen, Sasuke, we don't really care if you sleep in the bed-"

"I'm fine," he murmured. "The couch is fine; I sleep there half of the time anyway, and it's no worse than sleeping on the forest floor."

Xenovia bit her lip, but said nothing more. It was senseless to argue with Sasuke when his mind was made up, the blue haired woman had found in her brief time of knowing him.

"I suppose it's time for bed, then?" Rias said.

"You three can go to bed," Sasuke murmured. "I'm going to stay up for a bit."

"Okay."

Rias and Xenovia made for the bedroom — but Irina paused.

She walked up behind him.

"Umm… Sasuke?"

He turned.

Irina took a step forward, and _hugged_ him. He was caught off guard — his first instinct was to throw her off of him, but she was so warm… he caught a sniff of her freshly washed hair, and suddenly, it occurred to him that he didn't hate _all_ sweet things.

"Thank you for letting us live with you," she said. "It's going to be a lot of fun, I promise!" Irina pulled back, beaming at him. "We'll get started spicing this place up tomorrow. Have a good night's sleep!"

"... you too," he murmured after a moment, though she had already turned and made for the door. They disappeared into the bedroom, the light inside of it was flipped off, and Sasuke knew they were off to sleep.

He sighed.

Day one: complete.

* * *

 **And that's the chapter. The first chapter in Konoha: a lot happened, some of it long-lasting and some of it short-term. Some subtle, some blatantly obvious. Let's see how many people spotted what's to come - the obvious _and_ the subtle.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. If you did, I'd really appreciate a reviews; reviews are pretty awesome, and I enjoy each and everyone that guys leave me. I'll also reply to any reviews that ask questions. If you want to get in contact with me, feel free to PM me here on the website.**

 **I'll let you guys go now. Thank you a bunch for reading, stay tuned for next time, and have an awesome day!**


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